Reassured after their victory against Manchester United in the Champions League, the Parisians needed a victory to confirm their first place in the Ligue 1 standings. It’s done. Paris SG won (1-3), Saturday, December 5, on the lawn of the Mosson stadium in Montpellier, as part of the 13e day of the French championship. The Ile-de-France club now has a four-point lead at the top of Ligue 1.
Kylian Mbappé signed his 100e goal since arriving in the capital. The striker, who entered at the very end of the match within a very reorganized team, was able to add to the addition to allow PSG to score 28 points, against 24 for his runner-up Marseille, three days before trying to validate his qualification for the knockout stages of C1 against Istanbul Basaksehir.
In barely three and a half seasons with the Ile-de-France residents, Mbappé equaled the total of PSG’s top French scorer so far, Dominique Rocheteau (1980-1987). Next step: the record of the Portuguese Pedro Miguel Pauleta, third (109) behind the Swede, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (156) and the Urugayen Edinson Cavani (200).
The Parisians, with 28 points, give themselves air in a very congested standings, where OM, second with four points less, still have two games late to play.
Sunday, the last meetings of the 13e day will be able to shake up the hierarchy: Lille and Monaco, respectively third and fifth with a number of points identical to that of Montpellier (23), clash at 1 p.m., while Lyon, interspersed between Losc and ASM with 23 points also, moves to Metz at 9 p.m. Even Angers (9e, 19 points), opposed to Lorient (15 hours), can make a close in case of victory!
Rennes in an “extremely negative spiral”
Rennes could have hoped to get involved in this close fight, but the Bretons are in great difficulty and have not taken their heads out of the water, on the contrary.
Ineffective and surprised against Lens at home by goals from Arnaud Kalimuendo and Ignatius Ganago, Julien Stéphan’s men have chained an eighth defeat in ten matches in all competitions.
Three days after their failure in the Champions League in Krasnodar (1-0), synonymous with elimination of all European cups this season, the Rennes are at their worst and the situation has taken an even more dramatic turn with the fatalistic statements of Stéphan at the end of the meeting.
“We are in an extremely negative spiral. We have the obligation to immediately reconsider the objectives ”, reacted the coach, believing that it was now necessary “Behave like a team that will have to fight for maintenance”.
The standings are there to confirm it: before hosting Sevilla on Tuesday in a game without a stake in C1, Rennes is only eighth with 19 points, and has only taken one out of twelve possible in the last four met.
