PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain's rampant attack saved its sloppy defense against Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Although PSG won 5-2 at home in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 game, PSG's late goals glossed over another mediocre defensive performance.
PSG has been very poor at the back in recent weeks and has now conceded 12 goals conceded in seven games, including seven in the past three home games, and Chelsea's 28th-minute equalizer was the result of non-existent marking.
Left back Nuno Mendes was nowhere in sight as right back Malo Gusto was completely unmarked to run onto Enzo Fernández's pass and fire a shot past goalkeeper Matvei Safonov, who failed to get a firm enough hand on the ball.
Safonov has taken the No. 1 jersey from Lucas Chevalier, who was signed in the offseason to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma but has made mistakes that have cost him his place. Neither goalkeeper has the profile or big-match experience of Donnarumma, a European Championship winner with Italy.
Chelsea's equalizing goal in the 57th came after Désiré Doué clumsily lost the ball on the halfway line. Pedro Neto gathered it and sped down the left wing, easily beating captain Marquinhos for pace before squaring the ball for Fernández to score near the penalty spot.
Chelsea had a goal from João Pedro ruled out for offside late in the game, which once again came after PSG's defense was easily breached on a counterattack.
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PSG's Achraf Hakimi, left, and Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez challenge for the ball during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, in Paris, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Chelsea's Wesley Fofana, right, tries to block a shot from PSG's Desire Doue, center, during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, in Paris, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Chelsea's Reece James, left, and PSG's Vitinha challenge for the ball during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, in Paris, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A judge is expected to sentence OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to forfeit $225 million to the Justice Department on Tuesday, clearing the way for the company to finalize a settlement of nearly all of the thousands of lawsuits it faces over its role in the opioid crisis.
The penalty was agreed to in a 2020 pact to resolve federal civil and criminal probes it was facing. If the judge signs off, other penalties will not be collected in return for Purdue settling the other lawsuits.
After years of legal twists and turns, the settlement was approved by another judge last year and could take effect May 1. It requires members of the Sackler family who own the company to pay up to $7 billion to state, local and Native American tribal governments, some individual victims and others.
Here’s a look at the situation.
Purdue pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges in November 2020.
The Stamford, Connecticut-based company admitted that it did not have an effective program to keep its powerful prescription painkillers from being diverted to the black market, even though it told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that it did.
It also admitted that it paid doctors through a speakers program to prescribe the drugs and paid an electronic medical records company to send doctors information on patients that encouraged more opioid prescriptions.
While Purdue produced only a fraction of the opioid pills that flooded the market in the 2000s, advocates have long seen aggressive sales of OxyContin as one of the touchstones of the crisis. At a 1996 event to rally Purdue’s sales force, Richard Sackler, then a top Purdue executive and later president of the company, called for a “blizzard of prescriptions.”
While Purdue is expected to pay $225 million, the government agreed in the plea deal not to collect $5.3 billion in criminal forfeitures and fines and $2.8 billion in civil liabilities. Instead, portions of that money are considered part of the broader settlement — and the federal government will receive a small slice of that.
The broader settlement calls for members of the Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7 billion over 15 years. Most of the money is to go to government entities to use to fight the opioid crisis.
It's among the largest in a series of settlements by drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies in recent years — and the only major one that includes payments for some individual victims or their survivors.
Together, the settlements are worth more than $50 billion, and most of the money is to be used to address the overdose epidemic.
Under the Purdue deal, members of the Sackler family would be shielded from lawsuits over opioids from those who agree to the payments.
Purdue itself would cease to exist and be replaced by a new company, Knoa Pharma, which would operate for the public benefit and have a board appointed by the states.
The reorganization is considered one of the most complicated ever. By the end of last year, Purdue had paid law firms and other professionals working on all sides of the case more than $1 billion, according to a court filing.
Members of the Sackler family have long been cast as villains in the opioid crisis, seeking to increase profits even as it became clear people were becoming addicted to OxyContin and overdosing.
But no members of the family were charged.
Family members received $10.7 billion in payments from Purdue from 2008 to 2018 -- with nearly half of it used to pay taxes on behalf of Purdue. They have not been paid by the company since 2018 — and the last of them left Purdue's board in 2019.
Under the settlement, they would not object if their names are removed from museums and other institutions they've supported — something that's already been happening.
More than 54,000 people with personal injury claims against Purdue voted to accept the settlement, and 218 voted against it.
Still, some victims and their family members have been pushing back for years, asserting that the settlement and the guilty plea stop short of justice for victims of a crisis that has been linked to 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999.
Tuesday's sentencing is one more chance for them to make that case to a judge.
Susan Ousterman's son, Tyler Cordiero, died at age 24 in 2020 after overdosing on a mixture that included fentanyl after years of using heroin and other opioids. She organized others who lost loved ones to deliver victim impact statements to the court ahead of the sentencing.
She said the aim was to persuade the judge to reject the plea deal and for the U.S. Justice Department to pursue criminal charges against individuals, including Sackler family members.
“It shouldn't be going to states and municipalities,” said Ousterman, noting some governments have not yet used the funds they're received and others have used it in ways not closely linked to fighting the drug crisis. “They're not using that money effectively.”
Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this article.
FILE - Cheryl Juaire holds photos of her sons, both of whom died from overdoses, Sean Merrill, left, and Corey Merrill, after making a statement during a hearing in New York on March 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - A sign with some names of the Sackler family is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Jan. 17, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - Pills spill in an arrangement photo of prescription Oxycodone in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
FILE - Protesters who have lost love ones to the opioid crisis protest outside a courthouse in Boston, Aug. 2, 2019, where a judge heard arguments in a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
