Blaise Matuidi struck in the 89th minute to give Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win against struggling Evian Thonon Gaillard at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Wednesday and take the capital club to the brink of the title.
It looked like PSG would have to settle for a point against their 10-man opponents until Lucas played in fellow substitute Matuidi and the France midfielder slotted the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Jesper Hansen at the near post.
The result leaves the reigning champions 10 points clear of nearest challengers AS Monaco with only four games remaining and means they can clinch a second consecutive title with a win away to Sochaux-Montbeliard on Sunday, or 24 hours earlier if Monaco lose at relegated AC Ajaccio.
Photo: AFP
However, the nature of the performance left coach Laurent Blanc far from satisfied at fulltime.
“The first half was very bad. We appeared to be lacking in motivation and were very slow moving the ball,” Blanc said. “There wasn’t enough movement and Evian could even have been in front. We had a word with the players at halftime and the second period was better. Of course, it wasn’t our best performance, but we did the job in the end.”
Fresh from winning the Coupe de la Ligue by beating Olympique Lyonnais 2-1 in the final on Saturday, Blanc’s side were looking for revenge on Evian, who beat them 2-0 in the reverse fixture back in December last year.
Evian are still scrapping to avoid relegation, but they have performed well against the leading lights in Ligue 1 this season, taking four points out of a possible six against Monaco and also holding LOSC Lille Metropole.
They were unlucky not to take an early lead as well, Denmark international Daniel Wass hitting the crossbar from a long-range free-kick in the fifth minute.
Wass then forced home goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu into a good save from a header shortly after, as a PSG team still missing injured top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic and showing seven changes from that which beat Lyon in the final struggled to find their rhythm.
When they did, Hansen raced off his line to deny Ezequiel Lavezzi and young midfielder Adrien Rabiot fired over as the first half ended goalless.
The early kickoff meant the Parc des Princes stands did not really fill up until the second half, but most of the drama was saved for after the restart.
Lavezzi was unable to convert a Rabiot cutback from close range, before Evian were reduced to 10 men with an hour played when former Olympique de Marseille defender Kassim Abdallah picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Lucas Digne.
Visiting coach Pascal Dupraz shook his head on the touchline, mindful of the onslaught that was to come, but Hansen saved from Lavezzi and Matuidi somehow missed the target after the Evian defense made a hash of dealing with a low ball across goal by the Argentine forward.
It looked as if Evian would hold on until, with just a minute remaining, Matuidi struck his fourth goal of the season, much to the relief of the home fans.
Meanwhile, Lyon had to settle for a 0-0 draw away to Toulouse, a result which leaves Remi Garde’s side in fifth spot, two points behind rivals AS Saint-Etienne and three clear of Marseille in sixth.
OL must finish in the top five to qualify for next season’s UEFA Europa League.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was