Matuidi maintains PSG’s perfect start

Paris Saint-Germain’s midfielder Blaise Matuidi (left) vies for the ball with Montpellier’s Joris Marveaux during the French L1 at the La Mosson Stadium in Montpellier, southern France. (AFP)

AFP/Paris A second-half strike by the excellent Blaise Matuidi gave Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win away to Montpellier on Friday as the French champions maintained their perfect start to the new Ligue 1 season. Matuidi’s 61st-minute goal gave PSG a win that they deserved for their dominance of possession in a match of few chances on a hot night at the Stade de la Mosson. The capital club have won their opening three games of the campaign, all without conceding a goal, making this their best start to a season since 1999. And this result also allowed them to extend their club record run of consecutive Ligue 1 wins to 12, meaning they are now just two more victories short of levelling the overall record held by the Bordeaux side of 2009 that won the title. Laurent Blanc was the coach of that Bordeaux team and his current PSG side look a cut above the rest of France already this season, although in Montpellier they were facing opponents who had already lost their opening two matches without scoring a goal. “The most important thing is that the team wins and that is three wins in a row,” man of the match Matuidi said.  Paris were again without Zlatan Ibrahimovic and recent signing Angel di Maria, while Marco Verratti was absent and they lost Javier Pastore to injury early on. Matuidi added: “Given that we were without players and Javier went off it shows we have a very good squad. We can still do much better but the three points are the most important thing.” David Luiz came close to giving PSG an early lead, his  dipping and swerving free-kick being beaten away by Jonathan Ligali in the Montpellier goal. The visitors were then dealt a blow as Pastore was forced off with an apparent calf injury inside 10 minutes, his place being taken by Adrien Rabiot. Chances were and few between, with Ezequiel Lavezzi stabbing a shot wide after pouncing on a Jonas Martin mistake on the edge of the box seven minutes before the interval. Edinson Cavani had the ball in the net shortly after the restart only to be denied by a marginal offside call, while before that Kevin Trapp, the summer signing from Eintracht Frankfurt, excelled at the other end with a fine save to tip over Ramy Bensebaini’s header. The only goal arrived just after the hour mark, Maxwell exchanging passes with Lavezzi before feeding Matuidi, whose left-foot shot beat Ligali at his near post. It was a second goal in as many games for the tireless France midfielder, who opened the scoring in the 2-0 victory over Gazelec Ajaccio last weekend, and it secured a club-record sixth straight away win in the top flight.  Rennes stun Lyon after Zeffane winner Yesterday, Lyon’s patchy early-season form continued in Ligue 1 after a second-half Mehdi Zeffane goal condemned them to a 2-1 defeat at home to Rennes. Last season’s runners-up stole victory at Guingamp last weekend and were held at home by Lorient in their first league game, and they fell behind to a Pedro Henrique goal after just eight minutes at the Stade Gerland.  Hubert Fournier’s men swiftly levelled thanks to Nabil Fekir’s deflected effort after good work from new signing Rafael da Silva. But Rennes secured back-to-back wins thanks to Zeffane’s 56th-minute strike. After challenging PSG for the majority of last season before finishing second, Lyon will be concerned by their sluggish start to the new campaign which has already seen them fall five points adrift of the champions. Philippe Montanier’s Rennes—who had won only one of their last nine matches at Lyon—were coming off the back of a 1-0 victory over Montpellier and Henrique got them off to the perfect start here.  But seven-time champions Lyon—who beat Rennes 2-0 in this fixture last season—were level after 12 minutes when ex-Manchester United man Rafael played in Fekir and the 22-year-old French international’s shot took a slight deflection to deceive goalkeeper Benoit Costil. The hosts did the double over the Brittany club last season but Rennes were determined to gain a measure of revenge. Algerian international winger Zeffane cut inside from the left wing before planting a firm right-foot finish past Lopes after 56 minutes. That was to prove enough for Rennes who continue their encouraging start to the new season, they have six points from a possible nine after their first win at the Stade Gerland since November 2011. Results: Lyon 1 (Fekir 12) lost to Rennes 2 (Pedro Henrique 7, Zeffane 56); Montpellier 0 lost to Paris Saint-Germain 1 (Matuidi 61)