Thilo Kehrer salvages draw for Paris Saint-Germain at Lyon

Thilo Kehrer drew 1-1 for Paris Saint-Germain in Lyon on Sunday as coach Mauricio Pochettino's second-half replacement paid dividends to extend his Ligue 1 lead to 11 points.

Kehrer came in in the 69th minute and eight minutes later from fellow substitute Edouard Michut to get PSG 47 points from 20 matches.

The result left Lyon, who had started the scoring through Lucas Paqueta, in 11th place with 25 points.

Earlier, Nice finished second when they beat Stade Brestois 3–0 despite falling short of 10 men in the first half.

"It's not what we were hoping for, we need to do better, but scoring a late goal again shows our character," said fullback Kehrer.

Lyon midfielder Bruno Guimaraes said: "We dominated most of the game and even if the result was not what we were hoping for, I hope we can carry this mindset into the second half of the season."

PSG were without Lionel Messi, who is still recovering from a COVID-19 infection, and suffered the absence of the injured Neymar, allowing Pochettino to field Mauro Icardi with Kylian Mbappe in the attack. was forced to.

Lyon were happy to surrender possession to try to hit PSG at the break and were rewarded after eight minutes when Paqueta beat Keylor Navas with a low angle shot after being fielded by Guimaraes.

The visitors relied heavily on Mbappe but the French forward struggled to find a place in a compact Lyon defence.

However, Mbappe threatened at the stroke of halftime with a superbly curved shot that crashed into Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes' post.

PSG were not much better at the start of the second half, until Pochettino replaced Colin Dagba with Kehrer and Ander Herrera with the 18-year-old Michut.

With the combination of both options the changes paid off almost immediately for an unmotivated PSG to snatch a point.