PSG deny Strasbourg historic win to stay top of Ligue 1

Paris, Oct. 19: Champion Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to draw with Strasbourg in a 3-3 thriller and salvage a point that kept it on top of Ligue 1.

Liam Rosenior's men were looking for a first league win in 34 games in Paris and they were a goal down after six minutes, Bradley Barcola finishing well after a one-two with Désiré Doué.

Doué was returning from injury to face his elder brother Guéla and both men had key interventions in the end-to-end drama.

Guéla provided the cross for Joaquin Panichelli to equalize with a superb header and it was Désiré's mistake four minutes before the break that gave Strasbourg a halftime lead.

His misplaced pass found its way to Valentin Barco and Diego Moreira took his scooped pass to scuff a second past the surprised goalkeeper.

Burly striker Panichelli was a constant handful and it was his physical presence that led to Strasbourg's third four minutes into the second period. He wrestled with a PSG defender and the ball fell to Moreira, who crossed for him to slam home.

It was the Argentine forward's seventh goal in eight games and his fourth in the last two, following a double against Angers before the international break.

Strasbourg looked confident with the ball but the home side exerted more and more pressure and once more the involvement of a Doué brother was key.

The returning PSG winger was felled inside the box by keeper Mike Penders nearly an hour in and Gonzalo Ramos from the spot put them one behind.

PSG got a deserved third with nine minutes left. Senny Mayulu's shot was parried by Penders but the 19-year-old responded smartly, heading in the rebound.

PSG topped Ligue 1 with 17 points, one ahead of Strasbourg.

Meanwhile in LaLiga, Espanyol snapped a long winless run in Oviedo, scoring twice late on to beat the home side 2-0 and move into fifth place in La Liga.

Espanyol had not won here in the league since 1995 but Oviedo had lost three of its four home games this season, all of them by at least two goals.

Neither side brought much punch to a lackluster match but Espanyol took control in the final quarter.

Kike García's comically scrambled goal came with 17 minutes left and then Pere Milla sealed te win when he stole in at the back post to convert a low cross from Omar El Hilali.

The night started in unusual fashion after both teams stood still for the first 15 seconds of the match.

Players from both sides were protesting La Liga 's decision to hold the Barcelona-Villarreal game in Miami on Dec. 20.

The players' union said in a statement issued before the match that the players would "protest in a symbolic fashion to denounce the lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence of La Liga regarding the possibility of playing a game in the United States."

Spanish television chose not to show the protest, however, instead cutting to exterior shots of Carlos Tartiere Stadium.

Likewise in Germany, Danilho Doekhi's first-half double put Union Berlin on its way to a 3-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach and extend the visitor's atrocious start to the Bundesliga.

Gladbach came into the game as the only one of the league's 20 teams still to record a win six games into the season, and it was behind after three minutes.

Doekhi's unstoppable header from a corner was followed by a rebound goal when he reacted quickest to a shot from Ilyas Ansah that came back off the post.

Haris Tabaković pulled one back for Gladbach seven minutes later when he curled a shot into the far corner.

Visiting Gladbach had much of the play during a busy second half but could not get an equalizer and more misery came when Rani Khedira scored a third for Union in the 81st minute.

The result moved Union into seventh place. Gladbach fell to the bottom of the Bundesliga. (AP)