Paris: Neymar was sent off before his teammate Edinson Cavani proved his worth once again with a last-gasp equaliser that salvaged a 2-2 draw for leaders Paris St Germain (PSG) at bitter rivals Marseille in their Ligue 1 encounter, Sunday.
The Uruguay striker equalised a minute into stoppage time with a superb 20-metre free-kick after Neymar’s dismissal in the 87th minute following his second yellow card.
Neymar had earlier cancelled out Luiz Gustavo’s opener before half time. Florian Thauvin had then put the home side ahead, threatening to inflict PSG’s first defeat of the season. Then Cavani netted his ninth league goal of the season to earn the draw which puts PSG on 26 points from 10 matches.
Marseille went ahead on 16 minutes when Gustavo beat PSG custodian Alphonse Areola with a 25-metre strike. Neymar however restored parity in the 33rd minute as he collected a clever cross from Adrien Rabiot to beat Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda with a left-footed shot.
In the 78th minute, substitute Clinton Njie grabbed the ball from Rabiot on the right flank and Thauvin latched onto his cross to put the hosts ahead.
Neymar was booked in the 85th minute for dissent and reacted angrily after being fouled couple of minutes later, only to be shown the red card. In his absence, Cavani took the responsibility of the injury time free-kick and preserved the leaders’ unbeaten record.
reuters
