PARIS: Randal Kolo Muani’s late goal helped Paris St Germain secure a 2-1 victory over Nantes on Saturday to claim an eighth straight Ligue 1 win and extend their lead at the top of the standings.

PSG moved to 36 points, six points clear of AS Monaco, who beat Stade Rennais 2-1. Third-placed Nice are on 29 points.

Bradley Barcola opened the scoring for PSG in the 41st minute when he found space in the six-yard box following a solo run from the left, scoring his first goal since joining the capital side in August.

Mostafa Mohamed equalised for the visitors in the 55th minute from a corner, seizing on some poor defending to head home from close range past goalkeeper Arnau Tenas, who replaced the suspended Gianluigi Donnarumma.

France international Kolo Muani scored against his former team to restore the lead for PSG seven minutes from time by capitalising on a rebound after a save by Alban Lafont following a set piece.

Luis Enrique’s PSG travel to Borussia Dortmund in a key Champions League Group ‘F’ game on Wednesday knowing they must win to be sure of reaching the last 16.

Meanwhile, Despite a late penalty from Benj­amin Bourigeaud and Vanderson’s red card, Monaco held out against Rennes at Roazhon Parkto claim the victory.

Six minutes after the break Folarin Balogun profited from a lucky break to tee up Vanderson and the Brazilian defender’s strike glanced off Jeanuel Belocian on its way into the net.

Just three minutes later, the defender was again in the thick of the action as he earned a caution for a foul on Amine Gouiri.

His match was then cut short with 15 minutes remaining when he fouled Mahamadou Nagida and picked up a harsh second yellow card.

A man down, Monaco dug in and managed to double their lead on 85 minutes when captain Youssouf Fofana slotted a right-footed shot past Steve Mandanda, following a second assist from Balogun.

Bourigeaud converted a penalty on 90 minutes to give the hosts a lifeline, but Adi Huetter’s 10 men were able to see it out, aided by a fine save from ‘keeper Philipp Koehn three minutes into added time.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2023