Paris Saint Germain hang on despite a late scare to win the 85th league edition of Le Classique by a score of 2-1.
Neymar’s opening goal after just 12 minutes was matched by Caleta-Car 19 minutes later – only to see Mbappe’s penalty give the hosts a half-time lead thanks to Rongier’s handball which led to a penalty.
The second half failed to produce any goals, though both sides managed to put the ball in the back of the net – with Mbappe, Messi and Saliba all failing to hold their runs.
The latter thought he had put his side level with just five minutes left in regulation, but a lengthy VAR review rightly overturned the goal and extinguished Marseille’s hopes of getting anything from the game.
The win puts PSG ahead of Marseille at the top of the table by 15 points.
Starting lineup:
Paris Saint-Germain XI (4-3-3): Gianluigi Donnarumma;
Nuno Mendes, Presnel Kimpembe, Marquinhos, Achraf Hakimi;
Idrissa Gueye, Marco Verratti, Danilo Pereira;
Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi.
MARSEILLE XI (4-3-3): Pau Lopez;
Valentin Rongier, William Saliba, Duje Caleta-Car, Luan Peres;
Matteo Guendouzi, Boubacar Kamara, Pape Gueye;
Cengiz Under, Dimitri Payet, Gerson.
Goals:
PSG, TAKE THE LEAD! 1-0! Messi drives forward before laying it off to Verratti in central midfield. The Italy international picks his head up and scoops a fantastic cross to the far post for the run of Neymar, whose diving poke towards goal skips over the head of Lopez and in.
GOAL FOR MARSEILLE TO LEVEL LE CLASSIQUE! 1-1! Donnarumma steps off his line to punch away Payet’s corner but the imposing goalkeeper flaps at the delivery, missing the ball entirely. A mad scramble on the goal line ensues, but Caleta-Car has the time and mind to poke it home.
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! 2-1 PSG! Lopez guesses the right way, but it doesn’t matter as Mbappe sends his curling effort out of the reach of the goalkeeper to take the lead.
So, what’s next?
Paris Saint Germain is in action again on Wednesday when they travel to face Angers. Marseille plays the same day against Nantes.
