A second-half strike by the excellent Blaise Matuidi gave Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win over Montpellier Herrault on Friday as the French champions maintained their perfect start to the new Ligue 1 season.
Matuidi’s 61st-minute goal gave PSG a win that they deserved for their dominance of possession in a match of few chances on a hot night at the Stade de la Mosson.
The capital club have won their opening three games of the campaign, all without conceding a goal, making this their best start to a season since 1999.
Photo: AFP
And this result also allowed them to extend their club record run of consecutive Ligue 1 wins to 12, meaning they are now just two more victories short of leveling the overall record held by the Bordeaux side of 2009 that won the title.
Laurent Blanc was the coach of that Bordeaux team and his current PSG side look a cut above the rest of France already this season, although in Montpellier they were facing opponents who had already lost their opening two matches without scoring a goal.
Paris were again without Zlatan Ibrahimovic and recent signing Angel di Maria, while Marco Verratti was absent and they lost Javier Pastore to injury early on.
David Luiz came close to giving PSG an early lead, his dipping and swerving free-kick being beaten away by Jonathan Ligali in the Montpellier goal.
The visitors were then dealt a blow as Pastore was forced off with an apparent calf injury inside 10 minutes, his place being taken by Adrien Rabiot.
Chances were and few between, with Ezequiel Lavezzi stabbing a shot wide after pouncing on a Jonas Martin mistake on the edge of the box seven minutes before the interval.
Edinson Cavani had the ball in the net shortly after the restart only to be denied by a marginal offside call, while before that Kevin Trapp, the summer signing from Eintracht Frankfurt, excelled at the other end with a fine save to tip over Ramy Bensebaini’s header.
The only goal arrived just after the hour mark, Maxwell exchanging passes with Lavezzi before feeding Matuidi, whose left-foot shot beat Ligali at his near post.
It was a second goal in as many games for the tireless France midfielder, who opened the scoring in the 2-0 victory over Gazelec Ajaccio last weekend, and it secured a club-record sixth straight away win in the top flight.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS