Messi strikes early as PSG reach French League summit
Lionel Messi struck ater five minutes as Paris Saint-germain (PSG) edged Lyon 1-0 to regain top spot in the Ligue 1 table ahead of Marseille on Sunday.
Neymar set up the Argentinian with his seventh assist in eight Ligue 1 games.
The victory pulled PSG two points clear of Marseille who had taken top spot earlier with a 1-1 draw at home against Rennes.
Lorient, 3-1 winners over Auxerre, are three points adrit of the leaders.
Lens dropped to fourth ater being held to a goalless draw in Nantes.
PSG were imperious in the first half but did not finish off their opponent who woke up ater the break with Johann Lepenant coming on in place of a tired Corentin Tolisso.
But Christophe Galtier’s side held on to inflict Lyon’s third defeat of the season.
Galtier’s “MNM” atack is firing on all cylinders, with eight goals in Ligue 1 for Neymar, seven for Kylian Mbappe and four for Messi.
Earlier, Marseille midfielder Mateo Guendouzi
Neymar set up the Argentinian with his seventh assist in eight Ligue 1 games. The victory pulled PSG two points clear of Marseille who had taken top spot earlier with a draw vs Rennes
scored both goals in a 1-1 draw at home against Rennes. Guendouzi bundled past home keeper Pau Lopez to give Rennes the advantage ater 26 minutes but the former Arsenal player redeemed himself with a header past ex-marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda seven minutes ater the break.
Mandanda returned to a warm welcome for his first match back at the Velodrome where the former Marseille skipper spent 15 years before leaving for Britany in the summer.
“He was very good, very calm, while it was very difficult for him emotionally,” said Rennes coach Bruno Genesio of Mandanda who holds the record for the number of games played for Marseille with 613.
Nice fell 1-0 at home against Angers in a match in which defender Jean-clair Todibo earned a red card ater five seconds and both teams finished with 10 men. Todibo was sent off ater just nine seconds, and that includes the four seconds it took referee Bastien Dechepy to pull the card out of his pocket. Sofiane Boufal kicked off for Angers and passed to Adrien Hunou. He found striker Abdallah Sima surging forward. Sima pushed the ball past Todibo who stuck out a leg and tripped the striker.
Ater a video review, the decision that Todibo was the last defender stood. Even though Boufal was later sent off, Angers won 1-0 with Nabil Bentaleb scoring just before the break.
“I don’t think it was a red card,” said Nice coach Lucien Favre saying Dante and Jordan Lotomba were covering. “It was not a scoring opportunity.
“We would have won this game if we had played with eleven players.”
‘KILLED THE GAME’: There was also red card controversy in Reims who fell 3-0 to Monaco with defender Bradley Locko sent off ater 22 minutes for leaving a boot in on Breel Embolo.
“The referee killed the game,” lamented Reims coach Oscar Garcia, and “it’s not the first time”.
Club president Jean-pierre Caillot has been also suspended until December 31 for criticising the refereeing in a draw against Lyon last month.
In a punishing game in Britany, Ajaccio got their first win of the season 1-0 at Brest in a match where two players were stretched off.
Seconds ater kick-off, Ajaccio goalkeeper Benjamin Leroy caught a team-mate’s knee head-on as he tried to catch a ball.
“There was a loss of consciousness, he was hit in the neck,” said Corsican coach Olivier Pantaloni.
An aerial duel also floored Noah Fadiga ater half an hour, leaving the defender stunned in a head-to-head clash with Ismael Diallo.
The 22-year-old Brest player also let the pitch on a stretcher, giving the thumbs up to try to reassure the fans. Ajaccio got their first success of the season thanks to Romain Hamouma’s 65th-minute goal, to leave the Corsicans only one point behind Brest and Strasbourg.
Elsewhere Troyes won 3-1 at Clermont to move up to 10th ater two defeats in a row.
Clermont captain Johan Gastien scored ater just three minutes but the visitors hit back with a Mama Balde double rounded off with a late goal from Renaud Ripart.