Paris Saint-Germain earns third straight French championship
LONDON — Paris Saint-Germain sealed the first trophy of a possible domestic treble by beating Montpellier 2-1 to win its third straight title in France’s Ligue 1 with a match to spare.
PSG needed only a draw to clinch the championship, but goals from Blaise Matuidi and Ezequiel Lavezzi put the outcome almost beyond doubt within 25 minutes.
PSG moved eight points above secondplace Lyon, which was held to a 1-1 draw at home by Bordeaux. PSG’s route to a third straight title had its complications, notably after a slow start punctuated by draws — five in the first eight league games — and with embarrassing road losses to Guingamp and Bastia on either side of the winter break.
The defensive lapses caught up with PSG again on Feb. 14, when it led 2-0 before conceding two very late goals in a 2-2 home draw with Caen, and once more when PSG lost 3-2 away to Bordeaux on March 15.
That game threatened to derail PSG’s title charge, because Zlatan Ibrahimovic was caught on camera insulting match officials in an expletive-laced rant that even reached government level. Politicians publicly rebuked the Sweden forward for his outburst.
The absence of Ibrahimovic, who was banned for three matches, actually brought the players closer, with Edinson Cavani stepping out of Ibrahimovic’s giant shadow to score in the three games he missed. Following the Bordeaux defeat, PSG won eight straight league matches to take the wind out of Lyon’s sails.
ITALY
Champions League finalist and Italian champion Juventus came from behind to win 2-1 at Inter Milan in Serie A, while its Cup final opponent Lazio moved provisionally above city rival Roma into second spot. Lazio won 1-0 at Sampdoria. Alvaro Morata, whose goal at Real Madrid in mid-week sent Juventus through to the Champions League final, netted a late winner in the so-called “Derby d’Italia” after a mistake from Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.
Inter remained eighth, two points and two places behind Sampdoria in the race for a Europa League spot.
GERMANY
Nils Petersen scored late for Freiburg to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 and escape the relegation zone, while Stuttgart climbed off the bottom by beating Hamburger SV 2-1 in the Bundesliga’s penultimate round.
Petersen scored in the 89th minute, three minutes after coming on as a substitute, for Freiburg to climb to 34 points.
It is level with Hannover, which won 2-1 at Augsburg, and one point above Stuttgart in the relegation playoff spot.