Kylian Mbappe rescued victory for Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who were without Lionel Messi and Neymar on Friday night.
Result: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Angers
Date: 15 October 2021
Venue: Parc di Princes
PSG made wholesale changes to the side that lost to Rennes, with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Angel Di Maria not involved while Kylian Mbappe, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marco Verratti and Presnel Kimpembe were the only players to keep their places.
The Parisians were on top of Angers in the opening exchanges and Mbappe had an early chance after racing through on goal but he rushed his shot and it was saved by goalkeeper Paul Bernardoni.
Mauricio Pochettino's charges continued to threaten going forward, as Mbappe broke through again on goal on the half-hour mark but Bernardoni came out quickly again to block his path, forcing the French forward to recycle play and the opportunity went away.
Angers caught PSG on a counter-attack with nine minutes left of the first stanz as Angelo Fulgini broke the deadlock with a close-range finish after a low cross by Sofiane Boufal.
Ander Herrera thought he had equaliser for the hosts on the stroke of half-time with a looping header over Bernardoni that came off the post and crossed the goal-line but the goal was disallowed for offside.
The Parisians started the second stanza at a high tempo and Rafinha came close levelling matters ten minutes from the break with cracking strike from a rebound that flashed just wide.
Pochettino made a double change in the 64th minute, as Georginio Wijnaldum replaced Rafinha in midfield and Juan Bernat came on for Abdou Diallo in a straight swap at left-back.
PSG went on to bag the equaliser 21 minutes before time after Danilo flicked a cross by Mbappe at the near post past Bernardoni from a corner situation.
The Parisians made another couple of substitutions just after that, as Julian Draxler replaced Herrera in an attacking change and Achraf Hakimi came on for Colin Dagba at right-back.
The hosts were awarded a penalty five minutes before time for a handball inside the box after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review and Mbappe fired a low strike past Bernardoni to effectively seal victory for PSG, who went nine points clear at the top of the log.
