Mbappe strike secures another win for leaders Paris St Germain

Posted Sunday, December 23, 2018 by PA

Paris St Germain’s lead at the top of Ligue 1 extended to 13 points after Kylian Mbappe’s second-half goal secured a 1-0 home win over Nantes.

Mbappe scored his 13th league goal of the season in the 68th minute, producing a close-range finish at the far post following an Angel Di Maria corner

The large gap between Thomas Tuchel’s unbeaten PSG and second-placed Lille grew by a further three points with Les Dogues – who have played two games more than the champions – having been beaten 2-1 at home by Toulouse on Saturday.

Also, the result at the Stade de la Beaujoire marked a return to winning ways in the competition for Tuchel’s men after they had drawn each of their previous two league matches.

With Neymar unavailable due to a groin issue, PSG made their first attempt on the Nantes goal in the opening minute of the contest as Di Maria sent a volley too high.

Emiliano Sala hit a tame effort at the other end that was easily dealt with by Gianluigi Buffon before another Di Maria shot and a header from PSG skipper Thiago Silva went off-target.

As PSG continued to exert pressure, Diego Carlos got in a block to thwart Mbappe, Julian Draxler fired over and Di Maria delivered a great through ball for Edinson Cavani, only for the Uruguayan to fail to control.

Di Maria then curled narrowly wide just after the half-hour mark before Buffon pushed the ball away when Lucas Lima sent a cross into the PSG box and Enock Kwateng just failed to get a touch to it.

Nantes threatened again early in the second half as Kara Mbodji’s fierce, swerving strike was saved by Buffon.

But PSG were soon back on the front foot, and after Di Maria sent another shot just wide and Mbappe had the same luck, Draxler thought he had scored with a low strike before a VAR review saw the effort ruled out, with replays showing the ball had gone out of play in the build-up.

It was not long after that PSG did break the deadlock, with Di Maria’s corner appearing to be flicked on by Marquinhos and Mbappe diverting the ball into the roof of the net.

The France forward subsequently had a delivery pushed away by Ciprian Tatarusanu, Thomas Meunier fired over and Di Maria had one shot parried and rattled the crossbar on the follow-up – although the flag was up for offside.

Di Maria was then denied by Tatarusanu again before Nicolas Pallois and Lima failed to take rare chances for Nantes.

There was a great opportunity for PSG in stoppage time but substitute Thilo Kehrer blasted over.