Tribal Football

PSG ease past Marseille to extend Ligue 1 lead

Danny Lewis
Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring the opener
Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring the openerFranck Fife / AFP
Paris Saint-Germain secured a 3-1 win against Olympique de Marseille as they march towards the Ligue 1 title, while also recording a fifth consecutive win in Le Classique in the process.

Les Parisiens enjoyed their history-making trip to Anfield but were never going to be given a warm welcome back to domestic action by their familiar foe.

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Amine Gouiri saw his free-kick saved before Nuno Mendes had attempts denied by Geoffrey Kondogbia and Geronimo Rulli in a highly competitive opening 10 minutes.

Ousmane Dembele is proving to be undeniable in his current form, though, and the forward latched onto Fabian Ruiz’s pass and turned away from Rulli before firing into the net to open the scoring and extend his incredible record to 25 goals from his last 20 matches across all competitions.

Les Olympiens pushed forward in their search for an equaliser, although Adrien Rabiot headed wide and Bilal Nadir won a free-kick in a dangerous area but sent his effort into the wall before Gouiri’s follow-up was deflected wide by Vitinha.

Gianluigi Donnarumma then palmed away Valentin Rongier’s effort and Gouiri had another effort deflected wide following a lax pass from Achraf Hakimi.

Having been repelled at one end, Marseille were cut open at the other in the 42nd minute as Fabian got behind and squared the ball for Mendes to slide it past Rulli.

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Moments after Dembele fired over from Desire Doue’s cutback, Marseille had renewed their hope as Rabiot rounded Donnarumma and selflessly passed the ball for Gouiri to finish.

Dembele came agonisingly close to renewing PSG’s buffer, with his shot on the hour mark being deflected onto the post by Luiz Felipe, and Rulli rushed out to deny Warren Zaire-Emery shortly after.

Roberto De Zerbi made a triple change in an effort to aid his side’s efforts, but Pol Lirola turned Hakimi’s cross into his own net in the 76th minute.

The visitors couldn’t conjure a comeback with Quentin Merlin striking marginally wide, as PSG recorded a seventh consecutive win in Ligue 1 to extend their advantage over second-placed Marseille to 19 points.

To make matters even worse for Les Olympiens, this was the third defeat they’ve suffered in their last four matches after losing one of their previous 11 league fixtures.

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Flashscore Man of the Match: Fabian Ruiz (PSG)

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