PSG battle hard to beat 10-man Lens and stretch advantage atop Ligue 1
There was early drama in the sixth minute when Danilo was penalised for a rash challenge on Elye Wahi in the box, with referee Jerome Brisard pointing to the spot. Przemyslaw Frankowski stepped up, but hit the subsequent penalty straight at Gianluigi Donnarumma, who made the simplest of saves with his knees after staying in the middle of the goal.
The Pole looked to make amends on the rebound with a speculative overhead kick, but his effort flew high over the bar. Les Sang et Or were undeterred, though, and looked the livelier of the two sides in the opening stages, as Donnarumma was forced to parry away Wahl’s strike before an unmarked Kevin Danso headed wide from the resulting corner.
Faitout Maouassa then fired over the bar after being teed up by Frankowski, but it was PSG who took the lead against the run of play. Bradley Barcola scored only his second goal for the club after latching onto Kylian Mbappe’s brilliant through ball, displaying fantastic composure as he slotted his angled strike past Brice Samba on the half-hour mark.
The city of Lens has a proud history of mining, and the hosts certainly dug themselves an even deeper hole when Jonathan Gradit was shown a straight red card following a VAR review after hauling down Barcola and denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Franck Haise’s men were still creating chances against a PSG defence that was far from impenetrable, with Donnarumma again called into action to deny Neil El Aynaoui. Jhoanner Chavez then delivered an enticing cross towards Wahi, but Lucas Hernandez did enough to prevent the Lens forward from making contact with the ball.
Luis Enrique’s men were also hardly convincing at the other end either, but Vitinha almost doubled their advantage with a looping strike that flew just over the bar.
Enrique was then clearly dumbfounded when Fabian Ruiz squandered a golden opportunity, scuffing his attempt from inside the box. Eventually, Mbappe added PSG’s second at the end of a devastating counterattack, providing a ruthless finish from a tight angle following Ousmane Dembele’s through ball.
It was a far from vintage performance from Les Parisiens, but still proved to be enough to claim a fourth consecutive victory across all competitions and leave Enrique’s side in firm control of the title race. Meanwhile, this result ends a run of four successive home wins for Lens, who remain eighth and three points adrift of the European places.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain)
