PSG held as Kvaratskhelia makes debut

PARIS: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made his Paris Saint-Germain debut on Saturday and set up a goal for Ousmane Dembele, but the Ligue 1 leaders were held to a 1-1 draw by Reims.

The in-form Dembele put PSG ahead at the Parc des Princes with his eighth goal in his last seven appearances, only for Japanese international Keito Nakamura to level soon after.

PSG were unable to follow up their superb midweek win over Manchester City in the Champions League with another victory, but they remain undefeated domestically this season and move provisionally 10 points clear of Marseille atop Ligue 1.

Reims have won just once in 12 league outings, yet this was their second draw of the season against PSG, as Luis Enrique´s side perhaps had their heads elsewhere.

The Parisians go to Germany to play VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday needing a draw to be certain of progressing to the knockout phase of the Champions League, and Luis Enrique rotated his squad with that game in mind.

Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, Joao Neves, Vitinha and Bradley Barcola were rested, with the latter´s place being taken by Kvaratskhelia.

“He is a player who you can see is different when he gets the ball,” Luis Enrique said of the Georgian.

“I hope this was just the first of many matches for the club and I think it was positive although of course he lacks rhythm after a month without playing.”

Kvaratskhelia is not yet eligible for the Champions League so made his first PSG appearance here since arriving last week from Napoli for a reported 70 million euros ($72m).

He saw Goncalo Ramos almost put the home side ahead in the first half with a shot that was diverted onto the post by goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf.

Kvaratskhelia then played a key part in setting up the opener two minutes after the interval, cutting in from the left and playing a one-two before teeing up Dembele to score with a deflected shot.

However, Nakamura finished off a fine move to bring Reims level nine minutes later with his eighth goal of the season, and there was no further scoring.

Marseille visit Nice on Sunday, while Monaco climbed back up to third after their 3-2 win at home to struggling Rennes preceded a 2-1 defeat for Lille at Strasbourg.

In the principality, Monaco followed their 1-0 home win over Aston Villa in the Champions League in midweek by seeing off Rennes thanks to goals by Maghnes Akliouche, Mika Biereth and Aleksandr Golovin.