Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty provides lift for PSG, who keep pressure on Marseille

Paris Saint-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his second goal in as many games on Saturday and sixth in Ligue 1 this season. It may have been the only goal of the match, but the defending champions could, and should, have won by a greater margin. AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFEShow less

PARIS // Paris Saint-Germain kept the pressure on Marseille at the top of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win against Nice at the Parc des Princes on Saturday thanks to an early Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty.

The Swede’s second goal in as many games and sixth in Ligue 1 this season may have been the only goal of the match, but the defending champions could, and should, have won by a greater margin against limited mid-table opponents.

Nevertheless, Laurent Blanc’s side remain unbeaten this season and have now recorded nine consecutive victories in all competitions, with this latest triumph allowing them to close the gap on Marseille back to one point following OM’s 2-0 defeat of Nantes on Friday night.

“The third match in a week is always a difficult match. We changed half the side from the one that beat Ajax on Tuesday,” said PSG coach Blanc.

“We’d like to be better, but we’re working on it and the best is still to come for this team.”

PSG welcomed back captain Thiago Silva and Thiago Motta after both had missed the midweek Champions League game against Ajax, and while Nice might have opened the scoring inside seven minutes when Alassane Plea tested Salvatore Sirigu with a low shot, the home side came flying out of the blocks.

Edinson Cavani, who had scored seven goals in his last seven club appearances, sent a dipping volley from outside the area narrowly wide before Ibrahimovic showed sublime skill to take down a long Javier Pastore ball, turn and lash a shot against the post.

The breakthrough duly arrived on the quarter-hour when a penalty was awarded after Lucas was cleaned out in the box by two Nice defenders, Jordan Amavi and Romain Genevois.

And Ibrahimovic, who scored a hat-trick in this fixture last season, stepped up to score from the spot despite goalkeeper Mouez Hassen diving the right way.

Cavani then forced a good save out of Hassen after exchanging passes with Ibrahimovic but, perhaps with one eye on next Wednesday’s trip to Lille, Paris were unable to keep up their excellent start to the game.

“My team learned a great deal tonight, we were overwhelmed in the first half hour,” said Nice handler Claude Puel.

“We were so tense in the first-half we could hardly clear the ball. But we survived the storm with great team-work and generosity.”

Nice maintained hope of snatching something from the encounter and Plea should have done better with a header from Amavi’s cross before the latter himself glanced a header wide from a free-kick 12 minutes from time.

However, PSG held out and have now been beaten just once in their last 38 home league games.

Marseille continue to set the pace after Florian Thauvin scored one goal and set up another on Friday to end Nantes’ sequence of nine matches without defeat that had seen the resurgent Canaries climb into the top four.

Thauvin deftly converted a Dimitri Payet cross and then saw his free-kick headed in by Rod Fanni before half-time for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

In the later games on Saturday, Monaco followed their Champions League win at Bayer Leverkusen in midweek with a 2-0 defeat at Rennes, as the Brittany outfit climbed to fourth.

Three rapid-fire goals in five second-half minutes saw Lorient climb out of the relegation zone with a 3-2 win at Toulouse.

Caen and Motpellier drew 1-1, Lens beat Metz 2-0 in the northern derby and Bastia’s new interim coach Ghislain Printant saw his side slump back into the relegation zone with a 2-1 defeat at Reims.

On Sunday, third-placed Lyon make the short journey to face derby rivals Saint-Etienne, who are sixth.

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