… As Kogi United FC player laments club’s dwindling fortune in NNL***
Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were on target as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) kept alive their hopes of retaining the Ligue 1 title with a 4-0 victory over Reims on Sunday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side will go into next weekend’s final round of the season against Brest one point behind leaders Lille, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Saint-Etienne.
PSG will only get their hands on the title if they better the result Lille get against Angers next weekend, needing Christophe Galtier’s team to slip up.
Neymar opened the scoring early on with a penalty kick after Yunis Abdelhamid had been dismissed for handling an Mbappe shot.
World Cup winner Mbappe, Marquinhos and Moise Kean then wrapped up the most routine of victories.
Any hopes Reims had of securing back-to-back wins at the Parc des Princes were all but extinguished in the 13th minute.
Abdelhamid received his marching orders for handling Mbappe’s goalbound effort, with Neymar non-challantly slotting home his ninth league goal of the campaign from the resulting penalty kick.
Mbappe was not to be denied 11 minutes later, sliding home from close range after Thomas Foket had inexplicably rolled the ball across the face of his own goal.
France international Mbappe then fired wide after being played in by a sumptuous Neymar flick as PSG failed to add the third goal their dominance deserved before the interval.
Mbappe went close on a number of occasions at the start of the second period, while Neymar saw an effort ruled out for offside after Ander Herrera had struck the post from distance.
Neymar turned provider for PSG’s third after 68 minutes, his corner-kick from the left headed past Predrag Rajkovic by Marquinhos from six yards.
Substitute Kean fired into the bottom-right corner from 15 yards a minute from full-time as PSG inflicted a first defeat in six away games on Reims.
In the meantime, Victor Tale, a defender with Kogi United FC, on Monday, decried the club’s current standing on the Nigeria National League (NNL).
This is as the club recorded a goalless draw at home against Niger Tornadoes.
Tale, in an interview with the newsmen in Lagos, said that not being able to take advantage of playing on home ground to defeat Niger Tornadoes was a disservice to the fans.
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Newsmen report that Kogi United FC is currently battling possible relegation at the end of the 2021/2022 football season.
“It is very sad that we couldn’t secure a point; it is so unfortunate.
“Most of us are yet to get over the shock of the result of the match against Tornadoes; I guess we weren’t just lucky.
“I know it is wrong to dwell on what could have been, but this is painful because we are now on relegation from Group A2.
“This doesn’t look good on us at all, in spite of our hard work.
“Our focus now is on ensuring that we win our subsequent matches and get out of the relegation zone. That’s the goal,’’ Tale said.
Newsmen report that Kogi United FC will play against Yobe Desert Stars FC of Damaturu on May 22.
–dpa
