PSG clear at top of Ligue 1 after beating Lille

Vitinha put PSG ahead on a stiflingly hot night in northern France with a penalty and Bradley Barcola doubled their lead. Edon Zhegrova pulled one back in the second half to give the home side hope at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, but Randal Kolo Muani's stoppage-time header wrapped up the win for the defending French champions.

Luis Enrique's side appear to be coping just fine since the departure of their all-time leading scorer Kylian Mbappe, with PSG having won all three games so far this season, scoring 13 goals in the process. They head into the September international break with a two-point lead at the top of the table from Marseille, Nantes, Monaco and Lens, and on this form it will take something special to knock them off the summit.

PSG's Spanish coach said his team's start to the campaign had been "magnificent". "This was an away game, with all the difficulty that comes with that, against a team who have qualified for the Champions League and played more matches than us," he pointed out. "Obviously there are things we need to improve but this was a good test."

Champions League level

Meanwhile, Lille coach Bruno Genesio was left to regret the decision to deny his side a late equaliser, when Tiago Santos scored but the goal was disallowed by VAR for an extremely tight offside. "It was quite a balanced game before the penalty. But these are Champions League games, the real top level, and you really need to avoid making mistakes and be even more clinical," said Genesio.

Lille could be forgiven for feeling the effects of their Champions League play-off second leg away to Slavia Prague in midweek, when they weathered a storm to make the league phase of Europe's elite club competition. Despite that they almost went ahead when Bafode Diakite struck the post from a Zhegrova cutback in the first half, but PSG then won a penalty just after the half-hour mark when Ousmane Dembele was fouled in the area.

Vitinha rolled in the spot-kick, and Barcola then exchanged passes with Marco Asensio to run through and make it 2-0 on 36 minutes with his fourth goal of the season already. Lille pushed after the break and were given hope when Zhegrova drilled in low from outside the box 12 minutes from the end. They then thought they had drawn level when Santos netted, only for the offside flag to cut short the celebrations.

Kolo Muani made sure of PSG's win in stoppage time when he headed home from a cross by recent signing Desire Doue. PSG will begin their Champions League campaign in mid-September at home to Girona and will also take on Arsenal and Manchester City, amongst others, in the league phase. Lille, meanwhile, can look forward to hosting Mbappe's Real Madrid and Juventus in the coming weeks, although first they will go to Lisbon to play Sporting.

Marseille won 3-1 at Toulouse on Saturday with Mason Greenwood netting twice, while Nantes beat Montpellier by the same score away from home. Monaco and Lens drew 1-1 on Sunday as Przemyslaw Frankowski netted a stoppage-time penalty to secure a point for the visitors in the principality. Denis Zakaria had headed Monaco in front late on, but he handled in the box to allow Lens to leave with a draw.

Monaco will be in the Champions League after finishing last season as runners-up in Ligue 1, and the principality side will begin their campaign at home to Barcelona on September 19. Elsewhere on Sunday, Nice claimed their first win of the season as Evann Guessand scored twice in a 4-1 victory at Angers, who have lost all three matches since returning to the top flight.

Le Havre came from behind to beat Auxerre 3-1 in Normandy, while Japan's Junya Ito and Ivory Coast forward Oumar Diakite found the net as Reims recovered from the loss of an early goal to defeat Rennes 2-1.

 

September 1, 2024