PARIS: Frank Magri of Toulouse celebrates after scoring during the Ligue 1 match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes Stadium.—AFP
PARIS: Frank Magri of Toulouse celebrates after scoring during the Ligue 1 match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes Stadium.—AFP

PARIS: Paris St-Germain were left stunned after they were beaten 3-1 by Toulouse on Sunday, with the newly-crowned champions slumping to only their second Ligue 1 defeat this season.

Luis Enrique’s side struggled for form after their midweek Champions League semi-final loss to Borussia Dortmund and remain on 70 points from 32 games, six clear of second-placed AS Monaco with two games remaining.

“This defeat spoils the party a bit. It’s always frustrating, even if you’re champion, to lose like that in front of your home crowd,” PSG forward Ousmane Dembele told Canal+.

Kylian Mbappe, who confirmed on Friday that he will leave PSG at the end of the season, opened the scoring after eight minutes but Toulouse equalised five minutes later through Thijs Dalling before Yann Gboho put the visitors ahead with a superb curling effort into the top right corner.

Frank Magri’s stoppage-time strike sealed the win for Toulouse, who are 10th in the standings.

PSG visit Nice on Wednesday before their final league game against Metz and the French Cup final on May 25.

Meanwhile, second-half goals from Kassoum Ouattara and Youssouf Fofana earned Monaco a 2-0 away win over Montpellier to secure second place and a return to the Champions League.

They will return to Champ­ions League’s group stage for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

Elsewhere, Lille moved up into third place above Brest on goal difference as Jonathan David netted twice in their 2-1 win at Nantes.

\In Sunday’s other fixtures, RC Lens drew 1-1 at Rennes to hold onto sixth, while Orel Mangala’s goal gave Olympique Lyonnais a 1-0 win at Cler­mont Foot as they kept their European hopes alive.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as Olympique de Marseille beat Lorient 3-1 to also remain in the European picture.

At the bottom, Clermont’s defeat means they are relegated, while Lorient are almost certainly down too as they trail Metz by three points with one game left and have an inferior goal difference.

Metz, who lost 2-1 at Strasbourg, are therefore set to go into a play-off against a team from Ligue 2 with a top-flight place for next season on the line.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

When medicine fails
Updated 18 Nov, 2024

When medicine fails

Between now and 2050, medical experts expect antibiotic resistance to kill 40m people worldwide.
Nawaz on India
Updated 18 Nov, 2024

Nawaz on India

Nawaz Sharif’s hopes of better ties with India can only be realised when New Delhi responds to Pakistan positively.
State of abuse
18 Nov, 2024

State of abuse

DESPITE censure from the rulers and society, and measures such as helplines and edicts to protect the young from all...
Football elections
17 Nov, 2024

Football elections

PAKISTAN football enters the most crucial juncture of its ‘normalisation’ era next week, when an Extraordinary...
IMF’s concern
17 Nov, 2024

IMF’s concern

ON Friday, the IMF team wrapped up its weeklong unscheduled talks on the Fund’s ongoing $7bn programme with the...
‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs
Updated 17 Nov, 2024

‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs

If curbing pornography is really the country’s foremost concern while it stumbles from one crisis to the next, there must be better ways to do so.