Paris (AFP) – Lionel Messi put Marseille ahead after five minutes as Paris Saint-Germain beat Lyon 1-0 to regain top spot in the Ligue 1 table.
Neymar set up the Argentine with his seventh assist in eight Ligue 1 games.
The victory moved PSG two points behind Marseille, who had previously taken top spot with a 1-1 draw at home to Rennes.
Lorient, 3-1 winners over Auxerre, are three points behind the leaders.
Lens finished fourth after a goalless draw at Nantes.
PSG coach Christophe Gaultier said that PSG played a great game against a difficult team tonight.
“We scored well and could have scored others.
“We were very balanced, Neymar in particular gave us a balance that was really necessary. Even if we were less mobile in the second half, we had a lot of chances.”
PSG were dominant in the first half but could not finish off their opponents who woke up after the break with Johan Lepinant coming on for a tiring Corinton Tolisso.
But Gaultier suffered Lyon’s third defeat of the season.
Gaultier’s “MNM” attack is firing on all cylinders, with eight goals in Ligue 1 for Neymar, seven for Kylian Mbappé and four for Messi.
Earlier, Marseille midfielder Matteo Guinduzzi scored both goals in a 1-1 draw at home to Rennes.
Guendouzi bundled past home keeper Pau Lopez to give Rennes the lead after 26 minutes but the former Arsenal man redeemed himself with a header past Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda seven minutes after the break.
Mandanda returned for his first match to a warm welcome at the Velodrome where the former Marseille captain spent 15 years before moving to Brittany in the summer.
“He was very good, very calm, while emotionally it was very difficult for him,” said Rennes coach Bruno Genesio of Mandanda, who holds the record for most games played for Marseille with 613.
Nice lost 1-0 at home to Angers, with defender Jean-Clair Todibo receiving a red card after five seconds and both teams finishing with 10 men.
Todibo was sent off after just nine seconds, and that includes the four seconds it took referee Bastian Dechipe to pull a card from his pocket.
Sofiane Boufal started for Angers and replaced Adrien Hunou. He found striker Abdullah Seema moving forward. Seema pushed the ball past Todibo who stuck a leg out and caught the striker.
After video review, it was ruled that Todibo was the last defender.
Although Bouffel was later sent off, Angers won 1–0 with Nabil Bentlib scoring just before the break.
“I don’t think it was a red card,” Nice coach Lucien Favre said as Dante and Jordan Lutumba were covering. “It was not a chance to score.
“If we had played with eleven players, we would have won this game.”
- killed the game –
There was also red card controversy in the Rams’ 3-0 loss against Monaco, with defender Bradley Loko sent off after 22 minutes for booting in on Briel Mbolo.
“The referee killed the game,” lamented Rams coach Oscar Garcia, “and it’s not the first time it’s happened.”
Club president Jean-Pierre Caillot has also been suspended until December 31 for criticizing the referee in last month’s draw against Lyon.
In a punishing game in Brittany, Ajaccio secured their first win of the season at Brest 1–0 in a match where two players were drawn.
Seconds after the kickoff, Ajaccio goalkeeper Benjamin Leroy was caught on the head of a teammate’s knee as he tried to catch the ball.
Corsican coach Olivier Pantaloni said he was unconscious, with a neck injury.
After half an hour, Noah Fadiga was also put on the floor by an aerial devil, leaving the defender stunned in a collision with Ismail Diallo.
The 22-year-old Brest player also left the pitch on a stretcher and gave the fans a thumbs up to reassure them.
Ajaccio got their first win of the season thanks to Romain Humoma’s 65th-minute goal, which left the Corsicans just one point behind Brest and Strasbourg.
Elsewhere, Tris won 3-1 at Clermont to move up to 10th after two successive defeats.
