Paris Saint-Germain tightened their grip on the Ligue 1 title race with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday, thanks to a brace from Achraf Hakimi and a well-placed strike from Ousmane Dembélé in the second half.
Maintaining their unbeaten league run, PSG extended their winning streak across all competitions to eight matches and increased their tally to 59 points, sitting comfortably 13 points ahead of second-placed Olympique de Marseille, who suffered a 3-0 defeat at Auxerre the previous day.
Reflecting on the performance, PSG manager Luis Enrique expressed his satisfaction to DAZN, saying, “I think that today we showed everyone that we are capable of playing any match against any team. We feel very strong tonight, we’re in a very good phase.”
After a cagey first half, the reigning champions eventually found their breakthrough in the 53rd minute. Bradley Barcola delivered a pinpoint cross, allowing Hakimi to fire a powerful low strike into the bottom corner.
Dembélé, Ligue 1’s top scorer, doubled PSG’s lead just six minutes later, curling a sublime effort into the far post after receiving a well-weighted pass from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, his 17th league goal of the season.
Lyon fought back in the closing stages, with Rayan Cherki reducing the deficit in the 83rd minute, slotting home from inside the six-yard box.
However, any hopes of a late comeback were short-lived as Hakimi quickly restored PSG’s two-goal cushion just two minutes later.
Despite a late push from Lyon, which forced several crucial saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma, the PSG shot-stopper was unable to keep out Corentin Tolisso’s stoppage-time goal, adding late tension to an already gripping encounter.
Man-of-the-match Kvaratskhelia praised his side’s resilience, stating, “Congratulations to the team, it was a tough game. The important thing is to get three points and to keep on winning this league.”
He further acknowledged Lyon’s persistent attacking threat, adding, “It was a difficult game because they attacked right to the end. They tried to attack all the time and we had to be good at defending right to the end.”
With this defeat, Lyon remains in sixth place, holding onto the Europa Conference League qualification spot with 36 points.
