Paris Saint-Germain powered past Marseille with a commanding 3-0 victory at the Stade Vélodrome on Sunday, moving three points clear at the top of Ligue 1 after Monaco’s first loss of the season.
The eagerly awaited first “Classique” clash was largely decided by halftime, with PSG holding a solid three-goal advantage and Marseille down to 10 men following a red card for Amine Harit in the 20th minute.
Joao Neves opened the scoring for PSG early on, followed by an own goal from Marseille captain Leonardo Balerdi after a tumultuous 10 minutes that included Harit’s ejection. Bradley Barcola capped off the half by scoring PSG’s third goal, his eighth this season.
Marseille, who had a strong start to the season, fell to a 12th consecutive home loss against PSG in league play. Coach Roberto De Zerbi’s side had hoped to close the gap to their rivals with a win, but fans began exiting the stadium by halftime.
Neves set PSG on their way seven minutes in, capitalising on a handling error by Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli. After Harit was sent off for a high boot on Marquinhos, Balerdi compounded Marseille’s woes by inadvertently scoring an own goal while attempting to block a cross. Barcola added a third just before the interval after excellent build-up play by Ousmane Dembélé.
Elsewhere, Monaco missed their chance to reach the top of the table, falling 2-1 to local rivals Nice. Breel Embolo gave Monaco an early lead, but Nice responded with goals from Evann Guessand and Gaetan Laborde to secure the win. Monaco’s Brazilian defender Vanderson received a second yellow card in first-half stoppage time, leaving Monaco to play with 10 men.
Monaco coach Adi Hütter lamented the missed opportunity, calling the loss disappointing and attributing it to two costly errors. Monaco remain in second place, three points behind PSG.
In other Ligue 1 action, Lyon climbed to seventh with a 2-2 draw against Auxerre, while Strasbourg beat Nantes 3-1, with Andrey Santos scoring twice. Toulouse secured a 3-0 win over Montpellier, led by two early goals from Zakaria Aboukhlal.