PARIS: Paris St Germain’s 1-1 Ligue 1 draw at Toulouse yesterday demonstrated that the French champions will need the return of the talismanic Zlatan Ibrahimovic if they are to threaten Barcelona in the Champions League next week.
PSG, who are second in the table two points adrift of arch rivals Olympique de Marseille, have been without Ibrahimovic for two games as the Swede recovers from heel pains.
The striker is expected to be back to face one of his former clubs on Tuesday in a Group F clash but his absence was clearly felt at Toulouse.
The visitors fell behind in the eighth minute when Wissam Ben Yedder intercepted a poor back pass from Serge Aurier, outpaced David Luiz and beat Salvatore Sirigu from close range.
Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, however, levelled with a low angled shot in the 33rd minute.
PSG, who have drawn five of their first eight league matches, dominated possession but were barely threatening.
Manager Laurent Blanc waited until the 71st minute to make his substitutions. Lucas came on for Edinson Cavani, Thiago Motta substituted Yohan Cabaye while Clement Chantome took Marco Verratti’s place.
Earlier, Monaco’s recent resurgence was brought to a halt when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat in the Cote d’Azur derby against Nice.
Nice, who prevailed thanks to Carlos Eduardo’s early free kick, moved up to fifth with 13 points from eight games while Monaco are 12th on 10 points.
Following a woeful start to the season, Leonardo Jardim’s team had won two games in a row against Guingamp and Montpellier to move out of the relegation zone.
But yesterday, they lacked creativity as they once again suffered from the absence of James Rodriguez.
Carlos Eduardo found the back of the net with an 18-metre free kick after keeper Danijel Subasic had failed to set up his wall properly.
Dimitar Berbatov repeatedly tumbled in the area but referee Ruddy Buquet denied him a penalty on three occasions.
REUTERS
