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.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
VALUABLE POINT: Relegation-threatened Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico. “There were a lot of things that
Former Australian motorcycle gang member-turned-golfer Ryan Peake, who served a lengthy jail term for assault, yesterday produced a “life-changing” maiden win to qualify for The Open Championship. Peake held his nerve for a one-stroke victory at the New Zealand Open, earning him a berth at the major in Portrush, Northern Ireland, in July, pending clearance to travel as a convicted criminal. The 31-year-old from Perth celebrated animatedly and was showered with champagne by friends on the 18th green of the Millbrook Resort course near Queenstown after a redemption story rarely seen in the refined sport of golf. Peake held back tears as he
RSS