PSG maintain winning form with victory at Lille

Paris Saint-Germain maintained their hundred percent record in the new season after beating Lille 3-1 at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

This also extends Luis Enrique’s remarkable unbeaten away run in Ligue 1 to 26 matches.

The Paris club secured maximum points at the home ground of a side that accumulated more points on its own turf in Ligue 1 after them last season.

Lille suffered just one defeat from its last 15 home league games, showing that it has made the venue a fortress for visitors.

Having failed to win any of the prior six league head-to-heads, however,  Luis Enrique’s men were straight onto the front foot again here as Ousmane Dembele tested Lucas Chevalier in the opening stages, and he proved his mettle.

Lille nearly took the lead when Edon Zhegrova’s cutback found Bafode Diakite in the box, but the defender’s effort came back off the post.

Having survived that scare, the Parisians went ahead from the penalty spot. PSG were penalized after Alexsandro made a reckless tackle on Dembele inside the box. Vitinha calmly stepped up to stroke home from 12 yards to put the visitors ahead.

PSG made it two within three minutes after their opener. The champions carved their hosts open on the counter as Marco Asensio slipped Bradley Barcola in, and the Frenchman made no mistake in curling home the ball. This gave Bruno Genesio’s men a mountain to climb to return to the game.

PSG continued from where they stopped in the first half by becoming more dangerous, while the Mastiffs were a more positive outfit.

Chevalier was called into action again as he bailed his defense out with a sharp reflex save with his leg to deny Asensio before cleaning up Barcola’s tame effort.

After the introduction of Jonathan David and PSG old boy Thomas Meunier,  the momentum swung in Lille’s favor. The pressure eventually told as Zhegrova arrowed a low strike into the bottom corner from range to halve the hosts’ deficit.

As they looked for an equalizer as their goal set up a grandstand finish, Lille thought they had eventually leveled matters within four minutes through Tiago Santos, but their celebrations were cut short by the offside flag.

This was a wake-up call for the champions as they battened down the hatches and eventually put the game beyond sight through Randal Kolo Muani with a goal in stoppage time.

Desire Doue released a cross nodded in by Kolo Muani to secure a victory that saw them win their first three league games for the sixth time in 10 seasons.