consecutive Ligue 1 title alive with a 5-0 win over
bottom club Bastia.
Lucas Moura and Marco Verratti were on target
within the space of three minutes after the half
hour, although the Italy midfielder's long-range
effort arrived in controversial circumstances.
Bastia goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca had been
tending to the injured PSG midfielder Blaise
Matuidi and appeared to be obstructed by an
offside Julian Draxler when Verratti let fly to
effectively end the game as a contest.
Edinson Cavani had two goals chalked off, and
scored two either side of seeing a penalty saved
that he won in a personally eventful second half.
Marquinhos netted in between Cavani's efforts and
Unai Emery's men drew level on points with
Monaco ahead of the leaders' trip to Nancy later on
Saturday. Leonardo Jardim's side boast a further
game in hand.
Nancy are a point and a place above Bastia in 19th
and there were only three points separating the
basement boys and 16th-place Lorient before the
day's later games got underway.
Thiago Silva headed narrowly wide a Lucas corner
and the centre-back's countryman almost found a
spectacular 20th-minute opener.
Lucas embarked upon a driving run towards a
backpedalling Bastia defence and unleashed a
rising effort from 25 yards that clipped the top of
the post with Leca a spectator.
His 10th Ligue 1 goal of the season arrived in more
routine fashion after 32 minutes as Draxler played
Matuidi into the box to slot a pass across the face
of goal for Lucas to tap in, but controversy reigned
as PSG swiftly doubled their advantage.
The hosts had strong penalty shouts rejected when
Abdelhamid El Kaoutari untidily challenged Matuidi.
They scrambled the ball clear but the France
midfielder stayed down inside the six-yard box.
As PSG took the subsequent throw-in, Leca tended
to the prone Matuidi and returned to his goal just
as Verratti rattled a brilliant, if opportunistic, strike
into his top left corner.
Draxler was standing in front of the keeper in an
offside position for good measure but the goal
stood.
Leca protested extensively to referee Francois
Letexier and smashed the ball away in frustration
to earn a booking but regained his composure
enough to twice deny Verratti at close quarters
before the interval.
Cavani twice thought he had his 46th goal of the
season in all competitions but was correctly
flagged offside when he converted Draxler's clever
flick from Matuidi's cross, while the latter handled
to set up the Uruguayan for a 72st-minute finish.
After those false alarms, Cavani did make it 32 in
Ligue 1 this term – Draxler and substitute Goncalo
Guedes combining to create a tap-in.
He should have scored again having been
unceremoniously hacked down by Alexander Djiku
but Leca plunged right to save the penalty.
Leca could not bask in the acclaim for long as
PSG's forgotten man Giovani Lo Celso skipped into
the area and chipped delicately across goal for
Marquinhos to finish.
January signing Lo Celso then rattled the bar with
a venomous strike, hinting towards greater
involvement next season on his second Ligue 1
appearance since joining from Rosario, while
Cavani streamed clear of a flagging defence to
emphatically have the final word a minute from
time.
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