Paris give themselves breathing space

News

The key moments

Unbeaten in six home league games before kick-off, Brest started brightly with Yoann Court's half-volley going close (9') before Mathias Autret tested Sergio Rico (15'). Paris then stepped up the pace. Angel Di Maria (20') and Pablo Sarabia (21') warmed the gloves of Gautier Larsonneur. Court responded at the opposite end (23', 25'), but Paris hit back decisively on the counter-attack with Julian Draxler releasing Di Maria to clip the ball over Larsonneur for the opening goal (0-1, 39').

After the break, Paris tried to give themselves breathing space early with Layvin Kurzawa (61') and Edinson Cavani (62') both denied by Larsonner before Romain Perraud's long-range blockbuster brought another stop from Rico (63'). He was helpless to stop Samuel Grandsir levelling (1-1, 72'), but a triple substitution from Thomas Tuchel paid dividends. Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and Mauro Icardi stepped off the bench and teamed up for the latter to score (1-2, 85'). The Argentine has now been involved in ten goals in his last eight outings, scoring nine times. Gaëtan Charbonnier might have pulled one back in added time (90+2'), but the visitors held on to provisionally move ten points clear at the top of the table with their fifth away win of the season.

A Parisian in the match: Sergio Rico

A last-minute inclusion in the starting XI, he made light of his late call-up with some great saves as he became Paris' first Spanish goalkeeper and the fourth to play between the posts this season after Alphonse Areola, Marcin Bulka and Keylor Navas.

The word: brothers

Abdou Diallo came up against his younger brother Ibrahima. The Parisian emerged smiling with a fine performance (80 touches, 14 challenges won, 90% pass completion), and Abdou also stepped in to halt a dangerous Court counter-attack (51').

Coming up

The international break will be anything but a break for a lot of the squad. When everyone returns, Paris will open L1's Week 14 at home to LOSC Lille (kick-off 20:45CEST). The capital club have won their last five against LOSC at home - last season's runners-up - and will be looking for a win just four days before they face Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.