Despite the return of Ousmane Dembélé to the starting lineup, Paris Saint-Germain had a sluggish first half before being held to a 1-1 draw at Nice on Sunday. This result left Monaco comfortably at the top of Ligue 1. The defending champions controlled the ball for much of the match but were largely ineffective in the opening half. Luis Enrique’s side showed a marked improvement after the interval, creating more chances and eventually finding an equalizer through Nuno Mendes after Ali Abdi’s early goal for Nice.
“We were not really into it during the first half,” PSG forward Bradley Barcola admitted. “We woke up in the second half, it’s a shame we could not take our chances.” Prior to the match, PSG, lagging behind unbeaten Monaco by three points, appeared to be too timid to realistically hope for a victory on the Riviera. Marquinhos came close to snatching all three points for PSG shortly after Mendes’ goal, but his header narrowly missed the target, hitting the left post.
Dembélé made his return to the starting lineup after being benched for the Champions League loss to Arsenal in midweek. Following the defeat, Luis Enrique, who had criticized Dembélé for a perceived lack of commitment, faced criticism for omitting the French star, a key creative force in the team following Kylian Mbappé’s departure to Real Madrid.
Nice deservedly took the lead in the 39th minute when Abdi skillfully controlled the ball on the edge of the box before unleashing a left-footed shot that took a slight deflection and found the back of the net. Luis Enrique replaced the ineffective Randal Kolo Muani with Lee Kang-in, who significantly enhanced the link between PSG’s midfield and attack in the second half. Dembélé’s attempt in the 47th minute was denied by Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bułka, who was however powerless five minutes later when Nuno Mendes equalized with a deflected shot from outside the box.
Monaco now enjoys a two-point lead over PSG, with third-place Marseille five points behind.
In other news, seven-time French champions Lyon continued their resurgence with a fourth consecutive win in all competitions, beating Nantes 2-0. The match was marred by fan violence, with Lyon describing the clashes at Groupama Stadium as “unworthy” of the club’s illustrious history. Nicolas Tagliafico opened the scoring for Lyon in the 22nd minute, converting a cross from Saïd Benrahma for his first goal of the season. Nantes squandered several opportunities to equalize and were punished after the interval when Nicolas Pallois inadvertently beat his own goalkeeper while trying to defend a cross from Corentin Tolisso.
Host Reims climbed to fourth place with a 4-2 win over Montpellier. The Champagne side took the lead in the sixth minute with a header from captain Marshall Munetsi. “We all share the same ambition to win the most matches, and enjoy ourselves” Munetsi stated after his team secured their fourth league victory. Keito Nakamura capitalized on a poor clearance to showcase his dribbling skills and make it 2-0 with a brilliant strike. Oumar Diakite and Teddy Teuma added further goals for Reims, while Arnaud Nordin scored twice for Montpellier. The southern team remained in the relegation zone with the league’s worst defensive record, having already conceded 21 goals.
In other matches, Brest followed up their 4-0 midweek win over Salzburg in the Champions League with a 2-0 defeat of Le Havre, and Lens drew 2-2 at Strasbourg.
