Paris Saint-Germain could not crack the tightest defense in Ligue 1, drawing 0-0 with defending champions LOSC Lille Metropole in a physical match on Sunday.
In a match between two committed sides, PSG created the first chance in the 20th minute against a Lille side that has leaked only 15 goals in the league this season.
Surrounded by three defenders, Argentine playmaker Javier Pastore found Kevin Gameiro with a side-footed pass over the top. Gameiro chested the ball down, but he shot wide from 15m.
Photo: Reuters
“In the first half, there were a lot of knocks and fouls. It was very tactical,” Lille midfielder Eden Hazard told Canal Plus television. “In the second half, the two teams played more freely. There were more chances.”
PSG kept Lille under pressure in the second half.
Pastore collected a through ball from midfielder Mathieu Bodmer in the 48th minute, only to miss the target from the edge of the box.
PSG winger Jeremy Menez then fed Nene, who fired over the bar instead of slipping the ball to an unmarked Gameiro to his right.
Lille finished strongly as PSG began to tire.
Mathieu Debuchy headed a corner from Eden Hazard in the 59th minute, but PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu punched away the fullback’s close-range effort.
Sirigu made another save in the 77th minute, tipping over the bar a powerful drive from Lille midfielder Idrissa Gueye, and the Italian preserved his team’s point in stoppage-time by palming away a curling shot from Ireneusz Jelen.
Meanwhile, Girondins de Bordeaux beat Sochaux-Montbeliard 1-0 to climb to ninth place after a poor start to the season.
Bordeaux defender Ludovic Sane played a one-two with Yoan Gouffran and then fired home a low strike in the 22nd minute.
Fousseni Diawara scored from close range in the 83rd minute to boost struggling AC Ajaccio with a 1-0 home win over Stade Rennais.
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