'Poor' PSG retain Ligue 1 lead despite stalemate and Doue injury / Photo: © AFP
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'Poor' PSG retain Ligue 1 lead despite stalemate and Doue injury
Paris Saint-Germain clung onto the Ligue 1 summit on Wednesday despite a stalemate at Lorient and an injury to star forward Desire Doue as other results went their way.
Doue fell to the ground grimacing with a right thigh injury on the hour mark, before being carried from the field of play raising immediate doubts over his availability for PSG's date with Bayern Munich next week in the Champions League.
The forward had only recently recovered full fitness after being injured playing for France in September.
The 20-year-old scored a brace in PSG's 7-2 rout of Bayer Leverkusen in their last Champions League outing, and his potential absence against Bayern on November 4 would represent a serious blow to Luis Enrique's European champions.
"It's always bad news when there are injuries," remarked the Spaniard.
"It's a strange injury; I don't know exactly his condition. I hope it's not a serious injury," added the PSG coach, without speculating on how long Doue might be out.
After the match, an AFP journalist saw Doue, head down and hood over his head, leaving the locker room on crutches and avoiding putting weight on his right leg as he got on the PSG bus.
Nuno Mendes put PSG into a 49th-minute lead in Brittany, only for Igor Silva to cancel that out seconds later to leave it 1-1 on the night.
Luis Enrique did not sugarcoat the performance.
"We didn't deserve the victory, we played a poor match," he said.
"It's a shame because we need points and we want to earn points.
"They defended very well, you have to stay focused for the full 90 minutes, and it's difficult."
However, PSG remained top of the table after Marseille had to settle for a 2-2 home draw with lowly Angers.
Angers, who arrived at the Velodrome propping up the table, took a first-half lead before a double from Robinio Vaz appeared to have saved the south coast club's evening.
But Ousmane Camara's leveller in the sixth minute of injury time lifted Angers out of the relegation zone as Marseille remained in third.
A 5-3 win at Nantes lifted Monaco up to second, one point off the lead.
Lens, who started the night second, slipped to sixth after being beaten 2-0 by Metz, thanks to late goals from Gauthier Hein, who was then sent off for the hosts on the night Metz claimed their first win of the season.
In other action, Nice registered a 2-0 home win over Lille, Le Havre beat Brest 1-0 and Paris FC drew 3-3 with Lyon.
Strasbourg climbed to fourth with a 3-0 home victory over 17th-placed Auxerre.
T.al-Wazzan--BT
