Paris defeat Le Havre to cap a fine week
The Rouge-et-Bleu ended the week with a 10th straight league win as they defeated the Norman visitors to the Parc des Princes.
A few days after qualifying for the Champions League semi-finals at Aston Villa, Paris Saint-Germain were back home for their Ligue 1 Matchday 30 game with Le Havre. Lucas Beraldo and Lucas Hernandez started in central defence with Matvey Safonov in goal. At full-back, Achraf Hakimi started on the right with the captain's armband and Warren Zaïre-Emery on the opposite flank. In a very attacking midfield, Senny Mayulu was alongside Lee Kang-In and Désiré Doué. Ibrahim Mbaye and Bradley Barcola were in the wide forward positions with Gonçalo Ramos through the middle.
At kick-off, it was the youngest starting XI in Paris' history, but they were determined against a Le Havre side aiming to take something from their trip to the capital to help stave off relegation. Early on, the hosts set the pace and Barcola found Doué from the left, and he then burst past Étienne Youté before beating Mathieu Gorgelin for the opening goal (1-0, 8')! Doué caused all sorts of problems to the visiting defence, and set up Senny Mayulu who, from a tight angle, stung the hands of Gorgelin (19').
The hosts upped the pressure on the away goal. Gonçalo Ramos forced Gorgelin into another save (22') before Le Havre produced a goal threat of their own: Josué Casimir's speed gave him an opportunity but Safonov was alert (31'). That sparked a Parisian response and both Doué and Ramos (37') were denied by the busy Gorgelin. Doué went close to doubling his tally (44') before Barcola also tested Gorgelin (45+1') to end a frenetic first period.
The Parisians picked up where they had left off, and were rewarded for their efforts when Ramos scored from close range after Mayulu had crossed (2-0, 50'). Le Havre did not give up though and Issa Soumaré headed home from a free-kick to keep the visitors in the game (2-1, 60'). But the Parisians controlled the closing half-hour to ease towards another three points.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes came off the bench to help do that while Presnel Kimpembe reinforced the backline. The hosts might have scored a third with a little more cool in front of goal in the closing stages, but they comfortably held on for yet another win. They now head to Nantes on Tuesday for their rescheduled Matchday 29 game, the next step on the road to extending their unbeaten streak in the league.