Ligue 1 – PSG vs Lorient: Following PSG’s exit from both the Champions League and the Coupe de France, the club has only the Ligue 1 to play for.
All the club needed to do returning from the international break was to retain their 12 point gap in the then remaining nine fixtures.
On Sunday, the club welcomed relegation-threatened Lorient to the Parc des Princes. Neymar and Mbappe completed braces, along with Messi’s goal in the 73rd minute. Les Merlus managed to ruin Donnarumma’s clean sheet as Moffi scored in the 56th minute.
Thus the Parisians registered a 5-1 win retaining their 12 point lead.
Ligue 1 – PSG vs Lorient: Player ratings
PSG: Gianluigi Donnarumma (6.2/10), Marquinhos (6.4/10), Presnel Kimpembe (6.5/10), Nuno Mendes (6.7/10), Achraf Hakimi (6/10), Leandro Paredes (6.4/10), Idrissa Gueye (7/10), Danilo Pereira (6.8/10), Kylian Mbappé (10/10), Neymar (7.5/10), Lionel Messi (7.3/10).
Substitutes: Georginio Wijnaldum (6/10), Sergio Ramos N/A, Thilo Kehrer N/A
FC Lorient: Mathieu Dreyer (5.6/10, Leo Petrot (5.4/10), Julien Laporte (5.3/10), Vincent Le Goff (5.5/10), Houboulang Mendes (5.4/10), Laurent Abergel (5.4/10), Thomas Monconduit (5.3/10), Enzo Le Fée (5.4/10), Ibrahima Koné (5.3/10), Dango Ouattara (5.3/10), Terem Moffi (6.5/10).
Substitutes: Sambou Soumano (3.5/10), Quentin Boisgard N/A, Armand Laurienté N/A, Igor Silva N/A, Fabien Lemoine N/A
Post match reactions
PSG manager, Mauricio Pochettino: “I’m happy, because it was not easy to win the game tonight. I am very happy, happy for the players and of course we have to continue. I think it was very good. When the offensive players score, it’s always good for the team, it’s good for the whole team. And I think they are happy, they gain confidence and I think that’s very important. And the performance was good. I mean, the whole team today was very professional in their performance, and we are happy.”
PSG’s Nuno Mendes: “Yes we started this game very well from the first minutes with serenity… That’s what we did throughout the game. We scored two first goals and then we conceded one but we kept playing and we managed to score 3 more goals. Sometimes the frustration outside gives us even more desire to show that we are a team and that we represent PSG and the club in general! And that’s what the players have in mind. We train hard every day and we play for that. Now the goal is to win the championship and maintain the same disposition in our next games and we are prepared to achieve that.”
Lorient head coach, Christophe Pélissier: “We were off to a good start. I had asked the players to be very efficient over the first twenty minutes. My disappointment, it is on the third base because when we come back to 2-1, we feel a form of feverishness in front. We were taking the upper hand. We recovered balls higher but making mistakes against this kind of team, it does not forgive. At the end, we opened up completely when the goal average is important for us. That’s why it’s a bad night.”
