PSG coach may resort to ‘Plan D’ against United

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel admitted he might need to resort to “Plan D” in the approaching Champions League showdown with Manchester United after Edinson Cavani sparked a new injury scare on Saturday.

Cavani appeared to hurt his leg while taking the penalty three minutes before half-time that gave PSG a 1-0 win over Bordeaux at the Parc des Princes in Ligue 1.

Television replays showed the Uruguayan grimacing and asking to be substituted. He left the pitch moments later and was replaced by Kylian Mbappe at half-time.

Losing Cavani, who is PSG’s alltime leading scorer and has netted 22 times this season, would be another huge blow to the French champions ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League last 16, first leg at Old Trafford.

“I don’t know if he can play. He came off after taking the shot, it is a muscle problem,” said Tuchel.

“We will have to wait another night and day to have a clearer idea and get more tests done.”

At least the win allowed PSG — whose shirts carried the players’ names in Mandarin in a nod to the Chinese New Year — to get back on track after last week’s 2-1 loss at Lyon, their first Ligue 1 defeat this season.

European hopefuls Strasbourg lost 2-1 at home to Angers while Amiens beat Caen 1-0 to climb above Monaco and out of the relegation zone.

Mario Balotelli and Lucas Ocampos scored as Marseille won 2-1 at Dijon on Friday.

 BERLIN: Defending champions Bayern Munich trimmed the gap in the Bundesliga table to five points behind Borussia Dortmund on Saturday as Robert Lewandowski scored his 100th goal at home in a 3-1 win over Schalke 04.

“We did really well in the firsthalf, then for patches in the second,” said coach Niko Kovac as Bayern bounced back from last Saturday’s shock 3-1 defeat at Leverkusen.

“We deserved the win and the margin of victory.”

Dortmund had earlier blown a three-goal lead at home to Hoffenheim, who scored three times late on, in a dramatic 3-3 draw.

Elsewhere, Borussia Moenchengladbach slipped to third after losing 3-0 at home to Hertha Berlin as Salomon Kalou, Ondrej Duda and Davie Selke scored.

In the basement battle, Hanover climbed off the bottom with a 2-0 home win at 10-man Nuremberg, who dropped to the foot of the table, with former Germany striker Nicolai Mueller scoring both goals.

Fourth-placed RB Leipzig were held to a goalless draw at home by Eintracht Frankfurt, who are just one place behind them.

Mid-table sides Freiburg and Wolfsburg shared a point in an entertaining 3-3 draw as GianLuca Waldschmidt equalised for hosts Freiburg two minutes from time.