Late penalty drama overshadowed a brace from Georginio Wijnaldum as Paris Saint-Germain were held by Leipzig for a 2-2 draw in the Champions League on Wednesday.
PSG were on course for a victory over the German club which would have taken them to the top of Group A ahead of Manchester City until Presnel Kimpembe fouled Christopher Nkunku and gave away a penalty in the second-half stoppage time. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had saved another Leipzig penalty earlier, but this time substitute Dominik Szoboszlai’s shot was just out of his reach as Leipzig earned its first point of the season.
PSG arrived without the injured Lionel Messi but Kylian Mbappé came back from illness. But all the scoring was left to Wijnaldum who stepped up for this game.
Leipzig came out attacking and took the lead through former PSG forward Nkunku in just the eighth minute with a diving header off a cross from André Silva. Leipzig’s record of spirited defeats means Nkunku has now scored five times in this season’s group stage, none of them in a winning cause.
Donnarumma stopped PSG from falling further behind soon after when he saved Silva’s penalty after the Portuguese forward was held by Danilo while bearing down on goal. From there, PSG started to impose itself on the game and scored with its first real chance in the 21st minute, Mbappe setting up Wijnaldum with a smartly weighted pass for the Dutch midfielder to add the finish.
Video review was needed for Wijnaldum’s second goal when he headed in after a corner was flicked on by Marquinhos. The flag went up for offside, but VAR showed he was just onside. The last time Wijnaldum scored in a Champions League game was in March 2020 for Liverpool.
Leipzig kept pushing through the second half and eventually earned the penalty.
Manchester City leads the group after beating Brugge 4-1 in the other game on Wednesday. City hosts PSG in the next round of games on November 24. Leipzig can no longer qualify despite the late equalizer.
(With AP inputs)