PSG defeats Troyes as they egde closer to defending the Ligue 1 title

PSG moves closer to the title

PSG defeats Troyes as they egde closer to defending the Ligue 1 title

Stephen Oladehinde 21:38 - 07.05.2023

Paris Saint Germain returned to winning ways against Troyes at the Stade de l’Aube Stadium and moved six points clear of Lens with four games to go.

The Parisians lost last weekend to Lorient in their race for the league title but got back on track after defeating Troyes 3-1 away from home.

PSG took the lead early on in the first half from a Mbappe rebound in the box and then added another goal in the second half from Vitinha. After the interval, Troyes scored late on from Xavier Chavalerin's goal but the away side got the third goal through Fabian Ruiz as they secured the win and moved closer to the league title.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.ng/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

As it happened

Mbappe led the attack for Paris Saint Germain in the absence of Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. while Troyes's manager made just one change to his side that lost to Nice last weekend.

As the first half started, PSG took the lead very early on in the 9th minute. Kylian Mbappe was in position for a rebound inside the six-yard box and produced a header. He managed to put the ball into the top left corner.

The away side tried to get the second goal of the game but could not get the ball past Gauthier Gallon with the goalkeeper making several saves to keep his team in the game.

The second half saw PSG add a second goal in the 59th minute as Vitinha fired home a rebound into the middle of the goal after the ball broke to him in the box. 

Troyes tried to salvage something from the game through a goal in the 83rd minute when a perfect lofted pass from Papa Ndiaga Yade found Xavier Chevalier who jumped highest and steered a close-range header into the right side of the goal. His effort was both strong and precise, and Gianluigi Donnarumma had no chance of stopping that.

PSG didn't hold back but instead went for the killer shortly after Troyes got a goal with the third goal in the 86th minute. The goalkeeper made a save but the ball bounced off him to Fabian Ruiz, who found himself some space inside the penalty area and unleashed an unstoppable shot which bounced off the left post into the net.  

This win puts PSG six points ahead of Lens in second place with just four more games to go as they edge closer to defending the title.