Angel Di Maria volley rescues win for PSG against Rennes

Angel Di Maria's volleyed winning goal was the highlight in an otherwise poor game as Paris Saint-Germain defeated Rennes 1-0 to extend their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 10 points.

Chances were few and far between as a PSG side minus Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic struggled to break down a resilient home defence.

Perhaps with one eye on Tuesday's trip to Real Madrid in the Champions League, PSG coach Laurent Blanc opted to rest his two main strikers but another of his stars won the game in the 75th minute.

Di Maria found the back of the net with a left-foot strike after Marco Verratti released Lucas Moura with a superb long-range pass and he flicked the ball back to the arriving Argentine for his third league goal.

Ezequiel Lavezzi was a threat early on and he went close with a long-range free-kick before forcing the goalkeeper to tip a shot over the crossbar.

Benoit Costil was called on again just before half-time to deny Lucas after Di Maria had led a swift counter-attack.

PSG dominated possession in the second half but they lacked a cutting edge as Cavani and Ibrahimovic became even more conspicuous by their absence.

However, the introduction of Verratti and Thiago Motta after 66 minutes helped change that as the champions asserted themselves during the latter stages.

Verratti instantly made an impact as Blaise Matuidi just failed to get on the end of his pass before the Italian's excellent pass led to the goal.

Verratti's ball was taken down by Lucas and he set up Di Maria, who drilled a first-time shot into the bottom right-hand corner of Costil's net.

Lively Rennes substitute Pedro Henrique went close late on but PSG made it six successive league wins and maintained their unbeaten start to the season.