Ezequiel Lavezzi scored the only goal as champions Paris Saint-Germain edged Stade Rennais 1-0 on Friday to maintain their undefeated Ligue 1 home record and cut the gap on leaders Olympique Lyonnais to just one point.
The win was PSG’s sixth consecutive home win in all competitions, while stretching their Ligue 1 record at the Parc des Princes to eight wins and three draws.
However, Lyon, who face PSG in 10 days’ time, can restore their four-point lead with victory at AS Monaco today.
Photo: AFP
“I would have liked to have had a bigger victory, but we kept a clean sheet. That’s satisfying,” PSG coach Laurent Blanc said.
“We scored a very good goal, but we expect more up front,” Blanc said.
Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, the wife of Rennes owner Francois-Henri Pinault, watched the game from the stands, but her star quality failed to rub off on her husband’s mid-table team.
“There’s a little bit of frustration because we had chances to take a point,” coach Philippe Montanier said.
“Paris scored a magnificent goal, but when we had opportunities we were unable to take them,” Montanier said.
Lavezzi grabbed the decisive goal after 29 minutes after a neat interchange of passes down the left between Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was involved twice, Adrien Rabiot and Javier Pastore.
Argentine star Lavezzi, who has been linked with a move to Liverpool before the transfer window shuts tomorrow, was then on hand to tuck the ball past Benoit Costil in the Rennes goal for his third goal of the season.
Rennes might have gone into Friday’s game having not won a game in Ligue 1 since Dec. 3 last year, but they had defeated PSG 2-1 on their last visit to the capital in May last year.
They showed they would not be intimidated by the champions and came close evening the score.
Pastore played a poorly weighted back pass which was intercepted by Abdoulaye Doucoure.
The midfielder was clean through, but his tame shot was well saved by an alert Salvatore Sirigu in the PSG goal.
Five minutes after the interval, it was the turn of Costil to keep his team in the hunt.
Brazilian defender Marquinhos found Edinson Cavani with a neat pass which dissected the Rennes backline, but the Uruguayan striker was denied his 17th Ligue 1 goal of the season by a fine diving save from Costil.
Cavani missed another close-range opportunity before he was hauled off by manager Laurent Blanc.
At the other end, Sirigu kept PSG’s advantage intact with a save from Christian Bruls after Lavezzi had given the ball away.
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