Dubai Telegraph - Ethan Mbappe returns to haunt PSG as Lille force draw with Ligue 1 leaders

The 1-1 draw at Lille's Stade Pierre-Mauroy was, however, enough for injury-plagued PSG to go one point clear at the top of the French league.

A much-changed PSG side made the trip north and substitute Nuno Mendes's sublime second-half free-kick looked to have secured all three points for the reigning champions until 18-year-old Mbappe had the last laugh.

The first big chance of a stodgy first half fell to the feet of Thomas Meunier just after the half-hour but the former PSG defender was unable to punish his old side as Lucas Hernandez blocked his goalbound effort.

A first half short on goalscoring opportunities culminated in Bradley Barcola passing up a gilt-edged chance to break the deadlock for PSG as he raced through on goal from distance but got his finish all wrong.

The hosts started the second period the brighter with 39-year-old Olivier Giroud launching himself at an ambitious overhead kick before Nabil Bentaleb fired into Lucas Chevalier's gloves.

Lee Kang-in and Barcola riposted for PSG as the encounter started to become less cagey.

Luis Enrique made a slew of changes on the hour and was rewarded six minutes later as usual first-choice left-back Mendes whipped a fantastic free-kick into the top corner from 30 yards.

Mbappe then entered the field of play under the watchful eye of his older brother Kylian, who was up in the stands, with eight minutes remaining.

Achraf Hakimi, also off the bench, could have put the match beyond Lille in the 83rd minute but fired wide when well-positioned.

But the headlines went to Mbappe, who two minutes later cut inside on his left foot and fired a shot through the legs of Lucas Beraldo which flashed beyond the unsighted Chevalier.

Lille trail PSG by five points in seventh spot.

- Emersonn stuns Lyon -

New arrival Emersonn opened his account for Lyon with a brace, including nodding in a 96th-minute winner, as Toulouse fought back to beat Lyon 2-1.

Paulo Fonseca's side went into the weekend's action level on points with reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table but now find themselves fourth after being sucker-punched by Toulouse.

Lyon looked set to go provisionally clear at the top when Malick Fofana put the hosts ahead on 24 minutes.

Brazilian forward Emersonn entered the fray off the bench inside the final 20 minutes to flip the game on its head and bring Toulouse up to ninth on 10 points.

The 21-year-old summer signing from Turkish side Goztepe got his first for Toulouse in the 87th minute with a deflected effort.

The winner came in the sixth minute of injury time as Emersonn rose highest to glance home a corner.

Lyon assistant coach Jorge Maciel said it was "a cruel but not surprising result".

"It's not enough. We need to understand that even though we've a lot of matches coming up, we can never be satisfied with a 1-0 lead. We can't take our foot off the gas and give our opponents opportunities," the Portuguese added.

Elsewhere, Cote d'Azur rivals Monaco and Nice played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the principality.

Sofiane Diop gave the 12th-placed visitors the lead on 29 minutes, before Nice went down to 10 men five minutes later as Ali Abdi saw red for two bookable offences.

Diop nonetheless doubled Nice's lead in the 42nd minute from the penalty spot but the hosts fought back through two Ansu Fati spot-kicks to leave honours even.

The draw drops Monaco to fifth, three points off top.

Strasbourg thumped 17th-placed Angers 5-0 to cap off a fine week for the club after they kickstarted their UEFA Conference League campaign with victory at Slovan Bratislava on Thursday.

Strasbourg sit third, level on 15 points with second-placed Marseille and Lyon.

Rennes were held to a 2-2 draw at Le Havre, despite being two goals ahead inside the opening half-hour.

H.El-Din--DT