Paris Saint-Germain’s Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (left) vies with Caen’s French midfielder N’golo Kante during their match at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris yesterday.

 

Reuters/Paris

Paris St Germain conceded two late goals to draw 2-2 at home to Caen yesterday as injuries forced them to finish the match with nine men in a testing warmup for their Champions League clash with Chelsea.
The French champions, who take on the London club at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their much-awaited last-16 tie on Tuesday, missed out on top spot and are third in the table with 49 points from 25 games.
They trail leaders Olympique Lyonnais, who travel to Lorient on Sunday, by one point.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc will have injury concerns for the Champions League game, however, as midfielder Yohan Cabaye and centre back Marquinhos were both substituted.
Fullback Serge Aurier could not finish the game either, limping off the pitch in the 71st minute, eight minutes before Lucas also left the field with a groin problem.
With Blanc having already made three substitutions, it meant that PSG finished the game with nine men.
Caen, who were 2-0 down after first-half goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi, made the most of their numerical advantage and levelled with goals by Emiliano Sala and Herve Bazile in the 89th minute and second minute of stoppage time.
Ibrahimovic, who has been far from his brilliant best this season, showed a glimpse of his talent when he tapped home from Aurier’s cross in the second minute.
The Sweden striker was handed a yellow card for celebrating by taking off his shirt.
It was Ibrahimovic’s third yellow card in 10 matches, meaning that he will be suspended for the Ligue 1 clash against Monaco on March 1.
Adrien Rabiot replaced Cabaye in the 16th minute after the latter sustained a possible thigh injury.
Lavezzi made it 2-0 six minutes before the break, firing home a low shot from the edge of the box past Remy Vercoutre after being perfectly teed up by Lucas.
David Luiz replaced fellow Brazilian Marquinhos at halftime after he also picked up a possible thigh injury.
PSG came close to a third but Vercoutre made a superb save to deny Lavezzi’s header.
After Aurier and Lucas sustained injuries, Caen continued to push and reduced the arrears through Sala, three minutes before Bazile curled a superb shot into the top corner.
Meanwhile,  David Ngog scored an injury-time equaliser to earn Reims a 2-2 draw and deny Marseille top spot in Ligue 1 on Friday.
Earlier Jordan Ayew had seemed set to begin the healing process from his Africa Cup of Nations heartbreak as his goal gave the hosts a 2-1 lead at the Stade Velodrome.
But former Liverpool striker Ngog came off the bench to pounce late on for Reims, who remain in mid-table, and snatch a deserved share of the spoils.
“Dropping two points at home is not a good result,” complained Ayew. “We were pegged back in the last minute. But there you go, we can’t let our heads go down and we have to continue with the same spirit.”
Ayew had lashed home 21 minutes from time from less than a yard out after Andre-Pierre Gignac had completely missed an attempt at an acrobatic volley inside the six-yard box, which nonetheless helped to deceive goalkeeper Kossi Agassa.
The Ghana forward’s goal came just five days after his country’s dramatic penalty shoot-out defeat to Ivory Coast at the Cup of Nations final in Equatorial Guinea.
Ghana had even led the shoot-out 2-0 at one point before cracking within touching distance of lifting the cup for the first time since 1982.