PSG restore 11 point lead after 3-0 romp at Lille
Paris Saint-Germain restored their 11 point lead at the top of Ligue 1 on Saturday with a 3-0 victory at relegation threatened Lille. Yuri Berchiche opened the scoring for the visitors at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy just before half-time. The left-back drilled home after a poor attempted clearance fell to him.
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With 13 minutes remaining, the contest was effectively over. Neymar sent a free-kick into the top left-hand corner of the net from the edge of the area. It was the 25-year-old Brazilian's 18th goal in 17 Ligue 1 appearances. Giovani Lo Celso added the gloss to the scoreline three minutes from time.
PSG's lead at the summit was cut to eight points on Friday night when Marseille moved into second place with a 6-3 destruction of Metz.
But the French champions restored their advantage with their 12th victory in their their last 13 games in all competitions, including four in a row since their 2-1 defeat at Lyon last month.
“It’s good to get a sequence of wins,” said PSG manager Unai Emery. “Lille gave us a good individual and collective test. We got through it and these kind of wins help us to get better as a team and individually.”
After suffering their fifth loss at home and their 13th of the season, Lille boss, Christophe Galtier, said his players had showed they were capable of fighting their way out of the drop zone.
"I think it was a score that failed to reflect the match and the efforts we put in,” he added.
His men are in the relegation play-off position of 18th following the defeat and Toulouse’s 1-0 victory at Nice. “If we want to stay up we’re going to have to put in more performances like we did today against PSG,” Galtier said.
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