MY ACCOUNT
Kylian Mbappe was brought off the substitutes’ bench to rescue a late 2-1 win for Paris Saint-Germain against Nice in Ligue 1 on Saturday.
Former Nice coach Christophe Galtier decided against starting Mbappe, but it did not appear to matter when Lionel Messi opened the scoring from a free-kick he had won himself.
That was Messi’s first direct free-kick goal for PSG – and the 60th of his career – yet Gaetan Laborde equalised two minutes into the second half for Nice.
Although Mbappe’s introduction on the hour did not initially make much difference, the France forward’s quality told as he swept in an 83rd-minute winner at the Parc des Princes.
PSG failed to find the net in all three meetings with Nice last season, but that scoreless streak was ended by Messi with 28 minutes played of Saturday’s encounter.
The Argentina international was tripped by Dante 22 yards from goal and dusted himself down to send a sublime free-kick up and over the wall into the top-right corner.
But the visitors were level in the 47th minute when Laborde converted a cross that neither Nordi Mukiele, Marquinhos nor Gianluigi Donnarumma could deal with.
PSG toiled, despite the introduction of Mbappe, but the prolific forward had the final say when firing home after being picked out by a Mukiele cutback.
