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Ligue 1: Champions PSG held at Lille

December 04, 2014 08:57 IST

Edinson Cavani, left, of Paris St Germain celebrates

Image: Edinson Cavani, left, of Paris St Germain celebrates. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

Paris St Germain missed the chance to go top of Ligue 1 after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Lille on Wednesday as coach Laurent Blanc's decision to rest Zlatan Ibrahimovic backfired.

Ibrahimovic, who had played four full games since coming back from a lengthy injury layoff, was left out of the squad for Wednesday's trip and was sorely missed as PSG wasted several chances after keeper Salvatore Sirigu's own goal cancelled out Edinson Cavani's opener.

The French champions are second on 34 points from 16 games, one adrift of arch rivals Olympique de Marseille who drew 1-1 at Lorient on Tuesday.

St Etienne moved up to third on 29 points after goals by Florentin Pogba and Paul Baysse gave them a 2-0 win at Montpellier.

PSG went ahead in the 29th minute when Cavani flicked the ball past Vincent Enyeama from close range after Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi had been played in by Lucas.

Ten minutes later, Lille's key midfielder Florent Balmont suffered an injury and was replaced by Jonathan Delaplace.

The northerners, however, levelled in the 42nd minute when Sirigu deflected a header by David Ronzenhal into his own net.

Enyeama rescued his side 12 minutes from time with a superb save to deny Lucas after the Brazilian had slalomed through the defence and the keeper tipped away Lucas's header with a minute remaining to secure a draw for Lille, who are 15th on 17 points.

Source: REUTERS
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