Neymar reaches milestone but PSG held

PARIS: Neymar scored his 50th league goal for Paris Saint-Germain but warned the Ligue 1 leaders needed to improve quickly as they prepare for a crunch European clash with Manchester United by drawing 2-2 with Bordeaux on Saturday.

The Brazilian scored a penalty to cancel out an early Timothee Pembele own goal and becomes the quickest (in 58 matches) to reach a half century of league goals in a PSG shirt, outdoing Zlatan Ibrahimovic (in 59 games).

Moise Kean then put PSG in front only for Yacine Adli to fire in a superb second-half equaliser for mid-table Bordeaux, who deserved their draw.

It is a setback for the reigning French champions, a week after they lost 3-2 at Monaco.

“If we don’t improve, it’s going to be difficult for us in the league and in the Champions League,” said Neymar ahead of their Old Trafford trip on Wednesday.

PSG were again missing key players with goalkeeper Keylor Navas and captain Marquinhos among those absent at an empty Parc des Princes.

“We know how important Wednesday’s match is. We didn’t play well (against Leipzig) but we won. On Wednesday, we will try to play our best game. We need to play more as a team and be better organised, otherwise it will be difficult,” Neymar added.

A failure to beat United at Old Trafford could leave last season’s Champions League runners-up staring at a group-stage exit from the competition for the first time in the Qatar era.

“Normally, I protect my team, but our second-half performance was not OK. There is no way we can repeat our second-half showing when we play in Manchester,” said manager Thomas Tuchel.