Paris, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Paris Saint-Germain will aim to get back to winning ways on Saturday when the defending French champions host Toulouse at the Parc des Princes.
It's been a bit of a difficult week in the French capital as the club squandered a 2-0 lead to settle for a point in a 2-2 draw with struggling Caen in league play, and followed that up with a 1-1 draw against Chelsea in the Champions league quarterfinals.
PSG ran out to a quick two-goal lead as Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck in the seventh minute and Ezequiel Lavezzi doubled the lead in the 40th minute.
But Laurent Blanc's side collapsed in the second half as Emiliano Sala pulled one back for Caen in the 89th minute and Herve Bazile scored an unlikely equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time to salvage a point and stun the Paris crowd.
"It's very hard to accept what happened this evening. After 25 minutes we had done what we needed to do to win the game," said Blanc. "And then the bad news started coming with injuries to four players. It's a concern. We couldn't finish the match with 11 players and we couldn't hold on to the win. Now we need to recover because this was very hard to live through."
"It was a really bizarre game. I really can't understand what happened tonight," added defender Thiago Silva. "It will be very difficult for us and I hope our supporters will get behind the team because we will need them for this crucial match. We are a lot stronger when we have our supporters pushing us on."
Three days after settling for a point, PSG lined up against Premier League leaders Chelsea and fell behind in the 36th minute when Branislav Ivanovic nodded the Blues into the lead.
Les Parisiens pulled it back level in the 54th minute and had several more quality scoring chances, but were forced to settle for a draw heading into the second leg of the tie at Stamford Bridge.
"I don't think we got the result we deserved after this evening's match. More than just the score, which isn't a good one for us, I was very happy with my team and the spirit we showed throughout," said Blanc. "It's almost exactly the match that we wanted to play. Unfortunately there was that goal for Chelsea, but otherwise, I am very happy. We know that the return match will be very difficult."
A win for PSG on Saturday against Toulouse will take the club into first place temporarily.
Also on Saturday, Bastia hosts Lille at the Stade Armand-Cesari, Caen will aim to build off its draw against PSG with a win over Lens on Saturday at the Stade Michel d'Ornano, Evian battles Lorient and Rennes hosts Bordeaux at the Stade de la Route de Lorient.
On Sunday, leaders Lyon will hope to break a string of three consecutive draws in league play with a win against Nantes, while second-place Marseille travels to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to face fourth-place Saint Etienne.
Guingamp hosts Montpellier aiming for a fifth straight win across all compettions after a 2-1 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the Europa League on Thursday, while Reims welcomes Metz to the Stade Auguste Delaune II.
Friday's action saw Monaco move into fourth place with a 1-0 victory over Nice courtesy of an 85th-minute strike from Bernardo Silva.
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