PARIS - Lionel Messi's early goal earned Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win at Lyon on Sunday as they opened a two-point lead at the top of Ligue 1.
Messi found the back of the net with his fourth league goal of the season in the fifth minute to put Christophe Galtier's side on 22 points from eight games.
Marseille are second after being held to a 1-1 home draw by Rennes earlier on Sunday. Lyon, who have now lost their last three matches, are sixth on 13 points.
PSG have won nine and drawn one of their 10 games in all competitions and while they have shown less brilliance lately, they were still a cut above at the Groupama Stadium. The performance, however, was not enough for PSG midfielder Vitinha, who believed they should have put the match to bed.
"I'm satisfied with the result but not with the performance. We could have played better. There's a lot of room for improvement," the Portuguese said. "We should have controlled the match better in the second half and we should have had more chances with the possession we had."
It was a dream start for PSG, who went ahead from their first opportunity with Messi beating Anthony Lopes from just inside the area after collecting Neymar's pass. The Argentine had another chance early in the second half but Lopes this time pulled off a superb save to keep his team in contention.
Lyon had their best chance in the 76th but Marquinhos blocked Moussa Dembélé's header on the goal line. Neymar and Messi had two more opportunities for PSG, only for Lopes to deny them, but the hosts were never able to threaten again.
¡GOOOOO...NO!
Tiro libre de Messi, atajada de Lopes, cabezazo de Danilo y adentro, pero había fuera de lugarNo te lo pierdas el Lyon vs. PSG EN VIVO en beIN SPORTS Ñ.#Ligue1 #OLPSG pic.twitter.com/ALkiBOQO7X
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) September 18, 2022
Earlier, Matteo Guendouzi went from villain to hero as Marseille drew with Rennes. The midfielder scored both goals, but the opener was into his own net. Second-placed Marseille have 20 points from eight games.
Marseille fell behind in the 25th minute when Guendouzi deflected Hamari Traore's cross into his own net. The France international, however, made up for his mistake seven minutes into the second half by heading home from Jordan Veretout's corner.
Lens are fourth on 18 points after a 0-0 draw at Nantes that left them unbeaten this season but without a win at La Beaujoire in their last nine visits.
Elsewhere, Jean-Clair Todibo was sent off after nine seconds as Nice slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Angers and Monaco moved up to fifth on 14 points with a 3-0 victory at Reims.
IS THIS THE FASTEST RED EVER⁉️
Jean-Clair Todibo sent off after only 9 seconds!Watch Nice vs. Angers LIVE now on beIN SPORTS CONNECT.#Ligue1 #OMSRFC
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) September 18, 2022
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)
