Joao Neves’ late winner returned Paris Saint-Germain to the top of Ligue 1 as they beat Lyon 3-2 on Sunday, while Emanuel Emegha netted a brace as Strasbourg defeated Lille. PSG had gone into the weekend’s action in top spot, but were knocked off it by archrivals Marseille who beat Brest 3-0 on Saturday to edge ahead by a point. The chance to restore their lead seemed to have slipped by Luis Enrique’s side until Neves’ 95th-minute header at the Groupama Stadium.
Reigning champions PSG now sit on 27 points, two clear of second-placed Marseille.
“Resilience is a word I like,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique.
He added: “We showed the right mentality to win this match. It’s important because in adversity, we win, and we are first in Ligue 1.”
This win acted as a pick-me-up for PSG after their midweek Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.
Late defeat condemned Lyon to seventh spot, seven points off the leaders.
The visitors went ahead on 26 minutes as Warren Zaire-Emery raced onto Vitinha’s ball over the top.
Lacking options in the middle for a square pass, the 19-year-old instead decided to unleash a rasping drive which flew past Dominik Greif at his near post.
Lyon responded four minutes later as Afonso Moreira sprung the PSG offside trap with a run from deep, before slotting past Lucas Chevalier.
But the hosts’ joy turned to fury inside three minutes as PSG retook the lead via a crisp Khvicha Kvaratskhelia finish.
Lyon players swiftly gathered around the referee to protest Vitinha’s challenge on Tanner Tessman to win the ball back, before teeing up the Georgian.
The Portuguese seemed to go straight through the back of Tessman, but after a VAR review the strike was validated.
A decision which resulted in assistant coach Jorge Maciel earning himself a yellow card for his reaction.
“We need to talk about video refereeing. French football has an incredible league, but to have a real product, you need three teams on the pitch doing their job,” Maciel fumed after the match.
Nicolas Tagliafico struck the PSG woodwork four minutes before the interval as Lyon went into the break bemoaning their luck.
Lyon heartbreak
But Ainsley Maitland-Niles soothed those frustrations five minutes into the second half with a superb lofted finish from Tyler Morton’s ball over the top.
The match then tightened up after that 24-minute flurry, which resulted in four goals, as both sides rang the changes.
PSG suddenly found themselves on red alert on 80 minutes as Chevalier and his defence were required to pull off some last-ditch heroics to deny Lyon.
Tagliafico was dismissed in injury time after picking up a second yellow for tussling with Lee Kang-in off the ball.
The resulting free-kick went behind for a corner, and from that set-piece the diminutive Neves popped up to stun the hosts.
After missing Strasbourg’s last five league outings with a thigh issue, Emegha returned with a bang as he fired the hosts to 2-0 victory over Lille.
His goals either side of half-time lifted Liam Rosenior’s side to fourth place on 22 points.
Lille dropped to fifth after falling to their fourth defeat of the campaign, and now trail Strasbourg by two points.
“This match was similar to some of our recent matches,” Lille coach Bruno Genesio said.
“You can’t say that we played very badly or that the opposition were superior to us. We made mistakes that cost us dearly and we lacked variety and initiative.”
Emegha gave the hosts the lead three minutes after the half-hour as he adjusted well to knee home Diego Moreira’s cross which had just cleared the head of defender Nathan Ngoy.
A catastrophic backpass by French 2018 World Cup winner Olivier Giroud on 62 minutes sent Emegha through one-on-one and the 22-year-old made no mistake.
Elsewhere, Lorient and Toulouse played out a 1-1 draw in Brittany with both sides scoring from the penalty spot.
Metz beat Nice 2-1 and bottom-side Auxerre lost 2-0 at Angers.
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