Later last night Lyon, who stunned Manchester City in the Champions League in midweek, were playing against bitter rivals Marseille.
PSG critics have suggested the French giants had overspent on strikers and forgotten about the midfield after a tame 3-2 defeat in the Champions League at Anfield this week. With superstar striker Kylian Mbappe sitting out through suspension, there was room for both Di Maria and German winger Julian Draxler in the starting line up, with Neymar pulled into the No. 10 position, where his passes were a sight to behold, behind Edindson Cavani.
A young fan ran on to the pitch as Neymar was leaving as a late substitute and the youngster crumpled in tears as his hero hugged him and gave him his shirt in touching scenes that are likely to go viral on social media.
After Rabiot’s earlier upset Neymar seemed to be at the origin of almost everything the visitors threw at Rennes, including when Cavani hit the post from a sumptuous piece of play. On the stroke of half-time Draxler cut back from the byline and Cavani’s dummy set up Di Maria to fire a precise shot into the bottom right-hand corner from a good 25 metres out.
Neymar, 26, was then at the root of both Meunier’s 61st minute goal and Chopo-Moting’s first goal for the Parisians since joining from Stoke. “We did well to come back into it,” said PSG handler Thomas Tuchel, who instead of praising Neymar singled out Meunier. “He was great again, a goal and some great passing, a top performance.”
Buffon had his work cut out in the second half as Rennes playmaker Clement Grenier fed the speedy Senegalese strike-pair M’Baye Niang and the 20-year-old Ismaila Sarr. Rennes coach Sabri Lamouchi threw on ex-PSG midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa for one last roll of the dice but PSG went home with all three points and ideas about a new format for coach Tuchel.
Pointless Guingamp were left rock bottom of Ligue 1 yesterday when they were beaten 3-1 at home by Bordeaux, who thereby climbed out of the drop zone with just their second win from six outings.
On Saturday, Jonathan Ikone’s thunderous strike earned Lille a 2-1 victory over Nantes that sent them second and maintained their strong start to the new season after narrowly avoiding relegation last term.
Portugal defender Jose Fonte scored his first Lille goal since joining from China’s Dalian Yifang in July with a looping header on nine minutes at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Midfielder Ikone doubled Lille’s lead with a magnificent goal on 68 minutes, taking a delightful first touch to control a high ball before unleashing a scorching, dipping 25-yard shot past Ciprian Tatarusanu.
Nantes grabbed a consolation through Kalifa Coulibaly as Lille, who finished just above the relegation play-off place last season, won for the fourth time in six games to draw to within two points of defending champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Montpellier climbed to third as Gaetan Laborde’s first-half tap-in secured a 1-0 win over Patrick Vieira’s Nice, while Toulouse are level on points in fourth following a 0-0 draw at Angers.
French Ligue 1 results
Guingamp 1 (Thuram 70) Bordeaux 3 (Kamano 53, Karamoh 80, De Previl 90+5); Rennes 1 (Rabiot 11-og) Paris Saint-Germain 3 (Di Maria 45, Meunier 61, Chupo-Moting 83)
Played Saturday: Lille 2 (J. Fonte 9, Ikone 68) Nantes 1 (Coulibaly 82); Reims 0 Dijon 0; Strasbourg 3 (Lala 48, Corgnet 66, Adenon 86-og) Amiens 1 (Krafth 45+2); Angers 0 Toulouse 0; Montpellier 1 (Laborde 35) Nice 0; Saint-Etienne 2 (Khazri 48-pen, Kolodziejczak 66) Caen 1 (Fajr 31)