Neymar Jr missed a penalty as Paris St-Germain lost in the league for the second time, Nantes took advantage of a fantastic first 45 minutes to stun the leaders.
Mauricio Pochettino’s team, who had been unbeaten in Ligue 1 since October, were caught off guard by a clever Randal Kolo Muani finish.
Before Quentin Merlin scored a wonderful second and Ludovic Blas smashed home a penalty, Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont was inspired all night and made important stops.
Neymar scored immediately after halftime, but a tame penalty on the hour was saved.The poor performance of Brazilian Neymar summed up a trying night for PSG, who were shaken by Nantes’ daring first-half approach.
Much credit must go to goalkeeper Lafont, who stopped Lionel Messi at 1-0, Kylian Mbappe at 2-0, and then stood tall to save and hold another Neymar effort before the break as the forward took his time sizing up a chance.
Neymar’s blunder was compounded in stoppage time as Georginio Wijnaldum handled in the box, allowing Blas to take a three-goal advantage into the break.
Neymar who only returned from injury this week featured in Champions League Round of 16 against Madrid, he came on in the last 20 minutes and was critical as he assisted Mbappe who scored a stunner to hand PSG a win.
This season in Ligue 1, Neymar has only played in 11 games for a total of 905 minutes.
For every 90 minutes that Neymar spends on the field, he scores an average of 0.4 goals. This attacking performance has him ranked 29th out of 397 Ligue 1 players who have appeared in at least three games.
He has a total of four goals in the league this season, which puts him in second position among PSG’s top scorers.
Messi, who was making his 800th club appearance, fed Neymar in the build-up to PSG’s goal two minutes after the break, and it looked like they were on the verge of gaining momentum when Dennis Appiah took down Mbappe in the box.
But Lafont held his ground against the penalty, saving three of the past four spot-kicks he’s faced in Ligue 1.
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Mbappe squandered another great chance when a loose ball fell to him seven yards out, and Lafont came to the rescue again, turning aside a late strike from Julian Draxler.
