PSG warm up for Chelsea clash with easy win

Paris St Germain warmed up for their decisive Champions League date with Chelsea by recording a routine 4-1 home win against struggling Lens that took them to the top of Ligue 1.

A David Luiz free-kick just before half-time and a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty on the hour mark put Laurent Blanc’s side in control at the Parc des Princes on Saturday, and substitutes Blaise Matuidi and Javier Pastore made sure of the points after Yoann Touzghar had reduced the deficit.

The result took the defending champions two points clear at the top.

PSG remain unbeaten at home this season and have now gone 14 games without losing in all competitions, and those records were never really in danger of ending against such limited opposition.

However, Blanc will be aware of the need for an improved display against Chelsea, with the last-16 tie level at 1-1 and PSG needing to score in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to have a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals for the third season running.

“First and foremost, we had to make sure we won this game to go top of the table, so it was job done,” said Blanc.

“But the context of the Chelsea game is different. They are a toplevel team so we can’t compare this game today with that one.”

He added: “I think we will create fewer chances at Stamford Bridge than today, so we will need to be more clinical, because even though we got four goals here we were not clinical enough.”

With the Chelsea game in mind, Blanc rested Thiago Silva and left Marquinhos, Matuidi and Edinson Cavani on the bench against a Lens side nine points adrift of safety and without a win in eight league games in 2015.

The win was a fine response from PSG to Marseille’s superb 6-1 victory at Toulouse on Friday.

Fourth-placed Monaco, France’s other Champions League representatives, also won on Saturday, triumphing 3-1 away at Evian to move back to within six points of Marseille in third with a game in hand.

Anthony Martial and Almamy Toure scored for the principality side either side of an own goal by Kassim Abdallah that followed some superb play by Dimitar Berbatov.

A Diego Rolan brace, including a 95th-minute penalty, gave Bordeaux a 2-1 win at in-form Caen that put them fifth, while there were also victories for Rennes, Bastia and Reims. — AFP