Paris (AP) – Defending champion Paris Saint-Germain surprisingly missed the quarter-finals of the French football cup when superstar Lionel Messi made his comeback.
Despite the oppressive superiority in the regular season, the capital club failed on Monday evening against OGC Nice 5: 6 on penalties. After 90 minutes it was 0-0 in the top game of the round in front of almost 5000 spectators in the Prinzenpark. After that, it went straight to penalties without extra time. Xavi Simons’ 14th penalty was saved by Nice’s Polish goalkeeper Marcin Bulka.
PSG was clearly dominant until the final minute, the guests only had a few counterattack chances. Substitute Kylian Mbappé hit the bar in added time. For Messi it was the first game this year after his corona infection at the beginning of January. The DFB internationals Julian Draxler and Thilo Kehrer were in the starting XI of coach Mauricio Pochettino. Brazilian Neymar, on the other hand, was absent.
PSG is the clear leader in Ligue 1 – currently eleven points ahead of Nice, who are chasing ex-Bundesliga professional Dante and who are now meeting Olympique Marseille in the quarter-finals of the cup.