FURIOUS PSG

Ligue 1 leaders accuse Lyon chairman of selling ‘fake news’

PARIS Saint Germain accused Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas of peddling “fake news” on Friday, after he attacked the Ligue 1 leaders over their big transfer spending.

Aulas had denounced “the dangerous inflation PSG creates in France,” and the capital club hit back on Twitter.

PSG responded with an angry tweet that suggested Lyon were just trying to cash in and draw a big crowd when the visitors’ bigname stars such as Neymar and Kylian Mbappe come to town.

“After today’s fake news from Jean-Michel Aulas as a Lyon-PSG teaser, a question: are you trying to break records for attendance and gate receipts by hosting PSG?” asked the tweet.

Aulas took over at Lyon in 1987 and steered the club to seven consecutive league titles between 2002 and 2008.

Since being bought by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, PSG have won four league titles and are running away with Ligue 1 again this season, 11 points ahead of third-placed Lyon.

Aulas has previous form in provoking PSG, especially before the clubs play.

Ahead of the first meeting this season, a hard-won home victory for PSG, Aulas said there was “no chance for second level clubs to compete on the field with PSG.”

PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot said at the time that he did “not know if it is in order to destabilise us but it is not the first time, and it is often before PSG-Lyon.”

“PSG want to win the Champions League for geopolitical reasons,” Aulas told French newspaper Le Parisien.

“The inflation generated in France by PSG is artificial inflation because the funds come from a state. PSG are trying to catch up and overtake the most powerful clubs, but they are clubs who generate their own resources.”

Aulas also suggested that world-record signing Neymar isn’t being paid 100 per cent by PSG and questioned whether some of his salary comes directly from Qatar.

Meanwhile, Dimitri Payet and Florian Thauvin netted secondhalf goals as Marseille defeated Caen 2-0 on Friday.

Former West Ham winger Payet broke the deadlock on 55 minutes from the penalty spot after Bouna Sarr was brought down in the area by Vincent Bessat.

Thauvin sealed a fourth straight league win for Marseille with his team-leading 10th goal of the season on 74 minutes, curling a terrific 20-yard strike into the top corner. AFP