Nice 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain: Mendes rescues points to keep visitors unbeaten

Paris-Saint-Germain missed out on the chance to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1, with Nuno Mendes saving a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Nice on Sunday.

Nice started brightly and caused havoc as PSG struggled to find their rhythm in the early stages. Ali Al-Abdi soon took advantage of their visitors' lacklustre start, opening the scoring six minutes before half-time with a powerful strike from a corner.

Ousmane Dembele, who was dropped in midweek for the Champions League, orchestrated their equaliser, picking out Mendes, whose deflected shot beat the keeper to hit the back of the net seven minutes after the break.

They almost had a second moments later, Marquinhos rising high to meet Lee Kang-in's cross, only to see his powerful header rebound off the post.

Nice held firm despite the late pressure from PSG as goalkeeper Marcin Bulka kept out good efforts by Vitinha and Dembele.

It leaves PSG two points behind leaders Monaco heading into the international break.

It’s over! Time for international break. #??????? | ? - ? pic.twitter.com/G3ZNgNDBS3

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) October 6, 2024

Data Debrief: PSG's total dominance does not come to fruition

It has been a fairly disappointing week for PSG, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League, and failed to re-close the gap to Monaco at the top of the league by dropping points.

They had 19 shots against Nice, with 14 of those coming in a dominant second half. Seven of those after the break were on target, while Gianluigi Donnarumma did not face a single effort at the other end.

However, they only managed 0.97 expected goals (xG) - Mendes' goal came from a strike worth just 0.05 - and they could not find a late winner despite their best efforts.