Edinson Cavani and PSG keep up chase on Marseille with win over Lorient

Paris Saint-Germain fought back for a 2-1 victory over Lorient on Saturday to keep pace a point back of Marseille in Ligue 1.

Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani celebrates after scoring a goal in their 2-1 win over Lorient in Ligue 1 on Saturday. Stephane Mahe / Reuters / November 1, 2014

Unbeaten Paris Saint-Germain drew to within a single point of Ligue 1 leaders Marseille on Saturday with a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Lorient.

Lorient stunned the champions with Raphael Guerreiro’s tight shot opening the scoring on 42 minutes.

But Paris came back early in the second-half with goals from Edinson Cavani and substitute Jean-Christophe Bahebeck.

Marseille, who lost at Lyon last weekend, have 25 points ahead of their home game with Lens on Sunday and PSG have 24, as these two giants of French football get ready to go head-to-head in Paris next weekend.

Later, Lyon held on to third spot on 23 points after two late strikes from Alexandre Lacazette gave them a 3-1 win at Nice. His exploit puts him level-top scorer in Ligue 1 along with Marseille striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, both have 10 goals.

Saint-Etienne also held onto fourth (21) after their 1-1 draw at Lille, where both keepers saved a penalty.

Paris maybe had one eye on their Champions League clash with Apoel of Cyprus in midweek, given the pedestrian nature of a sluggish first-half performance.

But they were given a rude awakening just before half-time.

Lorient came out of defence to launch a blistering break in their orange strip and yellow boots.

Midfielder Guerreiro stunned PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu with his sudden tight-angled shot to make it 1-0.

“We played badly all over the pitch in the first half. But you saw straight away the difference in the second half, and we got a goal straight away and went in for the win,” the PSG keeper said.

And the difference was indeed eye-catching as Paris moved up a gear.

A defence splitting pass from Argentine playmaker Javier Pastore set up Cavani’s equaliser just after the break, the Uruguayan nimbly hoisting the ball over the onrushing keeper before executing his traditional rifle-shot goal celebration.

It was his third goal in three starts.

Coach Laurent Blanc then made a double substitution bringing on Marco Verratti for the misfiring Yohan Cabaye and Bahebeck for a tired looking Ezequiel Lavezzi and it paid immediate dividends.

Verratti fed Bahebeck as he ran into space and his shot flew home from a tight angle to send a wave of joy through a relieved Paris side.

In his post-match interview Blanc was taking no credit, and instead blasted the sloppy attitude of his players.

“That was the worst first-half I’ve seen since becoming a coach. We were astonishingly poor,” said Blanc.

“The players have to understand that games are won over 90 minutes, and we can’t allow this to happen again.”

But PSG can now look ahead to next Sunday with confidence.

“We are hoping for a great show next week and a great performance from both teams, we’re all looking forward to it,” said Sirigu.

Elsewhere former Chelsea winger Florent Malouda gave Metz a 3-2 win over Caen with a late penalty, Montpellier beat Evian 2-0 and up in Brittany Guingamp climbed off the foot of the table with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Bastia.

Nantes welcome Rennes in the Brittany derby Sunday and Marseille will be keen to reopen a four-point gap on PSG when they host Lens in Sunday’s late game.

In Friday’s game Monaco drew 1-1 at home to Reims.

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