PSG 3-1 Le Mans: a penalty, a double substitution that worked in two minutes, and a late one saved

It took Paris Saint-Germain longer than the scoreline suggests. Lucas Beraldo converted a penalty after 19 minutes to put the champions ahead at the Parc des Princes, but Le Mans — playing their first match at this stadium since 2009 — did not fold. Louis Mafouta levelled it at 1-1 early in the second half, and for a spell the newly promoted side looked entirely capable of leaving Paris with a point. Then Luis Enrique made four changes inside two minutes, and the game changed with them: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, on for Mika Godts, scored within two minutes of arriving. Maghnes Akliouche added a third seven minutes later. PSG won 3-1, and a stoppage-time penalty from substitute Désiré Doué — saved by Le Mans goalkeeper Nicolas Kocik — was the one thing that did not go the champions' way all evening.

A penalty, an equaliser, and a half-hour of real resistance

Beraldo's penalty, won and converted in the 19th minute, was the kind of early breakthrough that was supposed to settle the contest. It didn't. Le Mans — ninth in Ligue 1 after five matches, unbeaten in three of their last four before kickoff — kept playing their own game rather than simply absorbing pressure, and it paid off five minutes into the second half when Mafouta beat the PSG back line to make it 1-1. For a club making its first Ligue 1 visit to the Parc des Princes since 2009, parity for even a few minutes was already a result worth having.

Four changes, two minutes, one goal

PSG's response was immediate and specific. In the 58th and 59th minutes, Luis Enrique sent on Warren Zaïre-Emery and Fabián Ruiz for João Neves and Dro Fernández, then Vitinha and Kvaratskhelia for the scorer Beraldo and Godts — four fresh legs inside 60 seconds of game time. It is the kind of move that can look chaotic if it doesn't work. It worked in two minutes: Kvaratskhelia, who joined PSG from Napoli in January 2025 and has become the club's preferred impact option from the bench, put PSG back in front at 61'. Akliouche, a starter who had been quiet for long stretches, made it 3-1 at 68', finishing what the double substitution had set in motion.

A missed penalty and a frustrated finish

The only blemish on PSG's night came in the third minute of stoppage time, when Doué, on since the 72nd minute for Achraf Hakimi, had a penalty saved by Kocik. It did not matter to the result, but it denied PSG what would have been a fourth. Le Mans, by then chasing a game that had got away from them, picked up three yellow cards inside the final five minutes alone — Rayan Bamba and Brahimi Bilal both booked in the 90+2', Noa Boissé a minute later — on top of the two Dame Guèye and Mafouta had already collected earlier in the half.

• 19' — Lucas Beraldo (PSG), penalty
• 54' — Louis Mafouta (Le Mans)
• 61' — Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG), two minutes after coming on
• 68' — Maghnes Akliouche (PSG)
• 90+3' — Désiré Doué (PSG) penalty saved by Nicolas Kocik

A shaky start behind them

This win makes it four victories in PSG's last five matches across all competitions, the only blemish a 1-2 home loss to Monaco in early September, and it comes after a Ligue 1 start that was anything but smooth — the champions also drew at Rennes and drew at home to Lille before that defeat, a run that left them down in sixth place through the opening weeks of the season. Since the Monaco loss, PSG have put together a 6-1 demolition of Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League, a 1-0 win at Brest, a 2-1 win at Marseille and now this: 13 goals scored and 5 conceded across those four wins, the kind of return a team expects once it is finding its rhythm again. Akliouche's arrival in a reported €50 million deal from Monaco in August, after 139 appearances for his previous club, is starting to look like money well spent, even if Saturday's goal was his first since the move settled in.

Le Mans made it harder than a bottom-half side should

Le Mans arrived in Paris on the back of a mixed run — a draw at Brest, a defeat at Rennes, a draw at Nice, a draw at home to Lens and a win over Lorient — good enough for ninth place and 6 points from five matches, respectable numbers for a side playing in the top flight for the first time since 2009. Mafouta's equaliser, and the fact that PSG needed a double substitution to break the deadlock, says as much about the visitors' discipline as it does about the champions' slow start to the night. It is a damaging scoreline to carry home all the same: three goals conceded in 14 second-half minutes, and a yellow-card count that got out of hand once the result was no longer in doubt.

What's next

PSG went into this round sixth in Ligue 1 on 8 points from five matches, Le Mans ninth on 6 — this result moves both sides up that table once the rest of matchday 6 is played out. For PSG, the more encouraging number may be the one from the bench: a substitute scoring two minutes after arriving is exactly the kind of impact Luis Enrique has been trying to build into this squad all season.