Paris (AFP)
Paris Saint-Germain, the “defending champion”, achieved its first victory since the start of the French Football League, for the 2023-2024 season, by defeating its guest Lens 3-1, in the third stage, while Marseille stopped Brest, the winner in its first two matches, after defeating him. 2-zero.
Saint-Germain rose to fourth place with 5 points, two points behind leaders Monaco and Marseille.
At Parc in Prince, Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe received a standing ovation in his first home match of the season.
He missed the first match against Lorient because he refused to renew his contract, and St. Germain’s unwillingness to give him up for free next summer, but the two parties then reached an agreement that might require renewing the player’s contract with a guarantee of his transfer for a sum of money next summer.
The capital team waited until the last minute of the first half, when its new Spanish striker, Marco Asensio, opened the scoring for him, following a pass from young Warren Zaire Emery.
At the beginning of the second half, Saint Germain added the second via Mbappe, after a quick counterattack led by his left back Luca Hernandez “52”, before Mbappe added himself the third, following a pass from Spaniard Fabian Royce “90 + 1”, and Lens responded with an honorary goal for his defender Morgan Gelafuji «90 + 6».
Lens did not win any of his last eight matches in the capital, losing 5 times and drawing 3 times, and his last victory in the Parc des Princes dates back to November 5, 2006, with a score of 3-1.
The loss is the second for Lens after falling to Brest 2-3 in the first round, and tied with Rennes 1-1 in the second. It is noteworthy that Lens finished runners-up to Saint-Germain last season, and will participate in the Champions League this season.
Lens lost at the end of last season two key elements in its ranks, namely its Belgian international scorer Luik Openda in favor of German Leipzig, and its Ivorian captain Siko Fofana, who moved to the Saudi victory.
And at the Velodrome stadium, Marseille stopped Brest, the winner in its first two matches, after defeating it 2-0, and Marseille, who failed to qualify for the Champions League, after its exit in the third round of the play-off against Greek Panathinaikos, raised its score to 7 points in second place, lagging behind. On goal difference from Monaco, who snatched a difficult 3-3 draw from Nantes.
Brest ranks third with six points.
Marseille coach, Marcelino, said, “We started well, but soon we began to lose easy balls, and therefore this allowed the opponent to be dangerous, especially in terms of counter-attacks due to the spacing of my team’s lines.”
He added, “Things improved dramatically in the second half, as we had better possession of the ball, we were more accurate, and we got many chances, and this is positive.”
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