Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 Clermont: Late Ramos strike rescues point for league leaders against bottom side

A late Goncalo Ramos goal saved Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain from a home defeat to bottom-of-the-table Clermont in a 1-1 draw at Parc des Princes on Saturday, after PSG manager Luis Enrique fielded a completely changed side but required Kylian Mbappe late on.

PSG lead the league with 63 points, 13 ahead of second-place Brest, who face Metz on Sunday. Clermont remain at the bottom with 21 points, two behind Metz.

PSG went into the break down a goal after Habib Keita scored in the 32nd minute, but the home side, aided by Mbappe's later appearance, salvaged a point with five minutes remaining through Ramos.

Enrique named a completely different starting lineup to the one that defeated Rennes 1-0 in the Coupe de France semi-final on Wednesday, with one eye set on next week's Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona.

"My aim was to send out a competitive starting 11, which we did, with many international players," the PSG manager said afterwards.

"We had players out there who I knew wouldn't be thinking about the next game."

Yoram Zague made his PSG debut, and Senny Mayulu, also 17, started his first game for the club after appearing three times as a substitute earlier this season.

"I congratulate everyone who played, but especially Yoram and Senny, because they are homegrown players and they were superb," Enrique said.

PSG had plenty of possession in the first half, but they failed to create any clear-cut chances, with the exception of a shot by Achraf Hakimi that was saved by keeper Massamba Ndiaye's leg, which turned out to be PSG's only shot on target in the opening half.

Instead, Clermont took an unexpected lead when Milan Skriniar failed to deal with a long ball into the box, allowing Yohann Magnin to cross back into the area.

Alan Virginius collected the cross and passed it to Keita, who had his shot deflected in.

PSG thought they had equalised at the end of the first half when Mayulu hit a beautiful long-range shot, but the goal was ruled out by VAR due to a foul in the build-up.

After the break, it was all PSG, with Hakimi hitting the crossbar and Clermont's keeper saving from Randal Kolo Muani, but with no goals, Mbappe was introduced after 67 minutes, marking his 300th appearance for the club.

Marquinhos also came on, tying Jean-Marc Pilorget's record of 435 games with PSG.

Ramos had a header saved by Ndiaye, but he was not denied after a one-two with Mbappe, whose pass put Ramos one-on-one with the keeper, and he buried his low shot into the far corner.

PSG, however, could not find a winner and were held to a draw by Clermont for the second time this season, which will most likely not prevent PSG from winning their 12th Ligue 1 championship and may not be enough to save Clermont from relegation.

SportsLigue