French champions Paris Saint-Germain maintained their
unbeaten start to the season as they ground out a 2-0 victory over Toulouse on
Saturday to provisionally move top of Ligue 1.
Teenage defender Marquinhos netted his first goal in the
French top flight four minutes prior to half-time at the Parc des Princes
before Edinson Cavani converted a late penalty to send PSG a point clear of
Monaco, who travel to Reims on Sunday, at the summit.
With an eye on PSG's midweek UEFA Champions League tie
against Benfica, Laurent Blanc chose to rotate his squad as he made seven
changes to the team that beat Valenciennes 1-0 on Wednesday.
Goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu was called into action early
on as he dived to his left to claw away a header from Toulouse midfielder
Etienne Didot, who was fortunate not to concede a penalty on the half-hour
after appearing to handle the ball off a corner.
The first half then came to life just before the interval
as Marquinhos put the home side in front, stabbing home from close range at the
second attempt after Ali Ahamada had saved brilliantly from the Brazilian
central defender.
Aymen Abdennour almost replied immediately for the visitors
but Marco Verratti was on hand to hack the Tunisian defender's strike off the
line. Adrien Rabiot, who spent the second half of last season on loan at
Toulouse, almost doubled PSG's lead midway through the second half but saw his
header bounce back off the inside of the post.
However, substitute Cavani put the game out of reach on
79 minutes after the hosts were awarded a dubious penalty. Cavani went down
under a challenge from Uros Spajic with the referee pointing to the spot
despite replays indicating the Serbian centre-half had got a clear touch on the
ball.
Unfazed by Toulouse's protests the Uruguayan dusted
himself down and calmly stroke home the spot-kick to take his season's tally to
four.
Marseille warmed up for their UEFA Champions League trip
to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday by winning 2-0 at Lorient. After a first half
of few chances in Brittany, Marseille got the breakthrough just before the hour
mark when Mathieu Valbuena netted from a free-kick just over 20 yards out.
The French international had scored the only goal when OM
won at the Stade du Moustoir last season and it looked as if his latest strike
would secure an identical result this time.
However, as Lorient pressed forward in search of an
equaliser, Marseille made certain of the points in stoppage time, Andre Ayew
firing low past goalkeeper Fabien Audard at his near post for his first goal of
the campaign.
The win was Marseille's second in five days following
their 2-1 victory at home against Saint-Etienne in midweek and left them third,
a point adrift of PSG and behind Monaco only on goal difference.
Lyon and Lille finished goalless at the Stade Gerland,
while Dario Cvitanich struck the winning goal for Nice in a 1-0 victory at home
to Guingamp as Bordeaux drew 1-1 away to Evian.
Francois-Joseph Modesto netted an equaliser deep into
injury time to earn Bastia a 2-2 draw at Saint-Etienne as Sochaux moved off the
bottom of foot of the table after beating fellow strugglers Valenciennes 2-0 in
their first game since Eric Hely's resignation.
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