Paris St. Germain slump to first Ligue 1 defeat to struggling Guingamp
PARIS --
Jeremy Pied headed home the winner and goalkeeper Jonas Lossl denied Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a decisive save in the closing stages as defending champions Paris Saint-Germain slumped to their first defeat in the French league with a 1-0 loss at Guingamp on Sunday.
After losing 3-1 midweek to Barcelona in the Champions League, PSG could not recover from its first major setback of the season and looked bereft of ideas against an entertaining Guingamp side.
Although PSG almost opened the scoring from the start when Edinson Cavani's volley brushed the woodwork, Guingamp was the better team and deservedly moved ahead after David Luiz fouled Pied. PSG defenders were caught napping on the resulting free kick as Younousse Sankhare was left unmarked in the box and headed the ball for Pied, who beat goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu with a diving header in the 11th minute.
Guingamp, which reached the Europa League round-of-32 for the first time this week, had a good chance to double its lead soon after the interval when Claudio Beauvue forced Sirigu to parry the ball into the corner with a fine shot from the edge of the box after being picked out by Sankhare.
As Ibrahimovic lacked his usual verve in the final third, Beauvue threatened PSG's goal with another shot that Luiz managed to block in the 53rd.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc brought on Yohan Cabaye and Lucas but the move did not add spark to his team's performance.
The defending champions exposed themselves to counter-attacks as they pushed for an equalizer but Sankhare, who stole the ball in midfield and got behind the PSG defense, was stopped by Sirigu.
With three minutes remaining, Ibrahimovic connected with a superb cross from Gregory Van der Wiel but the Sweden striker's shot from close range was saved by Lossl and the PSG forward could not score from the rebound.
Leader Marseille, which travels to Monaco later Sunday, has the opportunity to extend its lead over PSG to four points.
