Lucas Moura goal helps 10-man PSG open season with win at Lille

Updated: May 17, 2023, 06:15 am
Lucas Moura's goal was all PSG needed to defeat Lille.
PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images

Paris Saint-Germain got their Ligue 1 title defence off to a winning start, but only after playing for more than an hour with 10 men.

Laurent Blanc's men, without the unfit Zlatan Ibrahimovic and new signing Angel Di Maria, lost 20-year-old midfielder Adrien Rabiot to a red card in only the 28th minute, picking up two bookings in the space of six minutes.

But Lille never looked likely to cause them too many problems and the visitors scored the decisive goal 12 minutes into the second half when Lucas Moura finished off a flowing team move to earn PSG their first opening-day win in five years.

The capital club, the three-time defending champions came into the clash boosted by another 'galactico' signing following the arrival of Di Maria from Manchester United, even if the Argentinian was not ready to take his place in the squad, with Ibrahimovic missing as well due to a knee complaint.

PSG started with plenty of attacking intent, albeit without creating any clear-cut chances, Edinson Cavani rightly having a penalty claim waved away when he nicked the ball past goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and tumbled under minimal contact from Benjamin Pavard.

At the other end Sehrou Guirassy had a sight of goal, but Thiago Silva threw his body in the way of the Lille striker's shot to make a fine block.

The away side suffered a setback before the half-hour mark with the dismissal of Rabiot.

Having already been booked for a foul on Florent Balmont, the youngster picked up another booking for a rash shirt tug. The referee took his time to produce the red card -- at one point Rabiot looked like he would get away with a warning -- but it did come out and PSG were down to 10.

Blanc's men have individual class which their rivals simply cannot match, though, and it was on display as they took the lead in the 57th minute.

A swift passing move involving Moura, Cavani and Blaise Matuidi in the middle of the pitch ended with the Brazilian racing beyond the Lille defence on to Matuidi's through-ball, rounding Enyeama and slotting the ball home.

The busy Cavani almost added a second at the death when he met a low cross from the right, but Pavard produced a brilliant block to deny the Uruguayan what had looked a certain goal.

It was at the other end, though, that Lille needed a moment of inspiration. It did not come as the 10 men closed out victory.