Nuno Mendes shines: Sporting graduate decisive in Strasbourg v PSG | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain returned to winning ways in Ligue 1 this Sunday, and owes much gratitude to Nuno Mendes. The Portuguese player, who came up through Sporting’s academy, scored the winning goal against Strasbourg with a header, settling the duel of the 20th round of the French championship, at a time when PSG was already down to ten men.

PSG opened the scoring in the 22nd minute through Senny Mayulu, but Strasbourg, where the Portuguese-Belgian Diego Moreira started and Rafael Luís came off the bench in the second half, equalized in the 27th minute through Ivorian defender Guela Doue. With this result, the European champion would remain in first place, but with the same points as Lens.

Achraf Hakimi was sent off in the 75th minute, and it didn’t seem likely that the Parisians, led by Luis Enrique, would manage to secure the win. However, a powerful header from the Portuguese international changed the course of history, once again leaving his mark on the season, for the fifth time.

In the 81st minute, with a perfectly measured assist from Warren Zaire-Emery, Nuno Mendes sealed the match and restored the lead to the French champions. PSG, who recorded their sixth consecutive win in the competition, remain at the top of the table after the round’s conclusion, with 48 points, two more than second-placed Lens, while Strasbourg sits in seventh with 30.

This season, Nuno Mendes—valued at 75 million euros—continues to show that he is one of the best players in the world. Representing PSG, he has already played 25 matches—13 in Ligue 1, eight in the Champions League, one in the UEFA Super Cup, one in the Intercontinental Cup, one in the French Super Cup, and another in the French Cup (a competition where Afonso Moreira is also playing). In the 1,882 minutes played, the former Sporting player has scored five goals and provided four assists.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.