Paris Saint-Germain cruised to a 4-1 win over Lille on Saturday to extend their lead in France to 16 points ahead of their heavyweight Champions League clash with Liverpool. Bradley Barcola, Marquinhos, Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue all struck in the first half at the Parc des Princes as PSG extended their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 this season to 24 matches. “It’s a perfect scenario ahead of a game like the one against Liverpool,” said PSG captain Marquinhos.
“We’re in great shape and all the signs are good. We’re winning and we’re full of confidence. We must not stop and the staff are pushing us hard to give it our all.”
Jonathan David grabbed a consolation after coming on as a substitute for Lille, who go to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday in the first leg of their last 16 tie.
PSG are cantering towards an 11th league title in 13 years but will face the biggest test of their season over the next two weeks against runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool, who had a rare weekend off.
“I don’t know if we sent a message today, we’ve been in good form for a while,” said Marquinhos. “We really wanted to prepare well for the Champions League and that’s what we’ve done.”
Luis Enrique picked a strong team to face Lille including a number of probable starters against Liverpool on Wednesday, and PSG put the result beyond doubt inside the opening half hour.
Barcola turned in the rebound to give PSG a sixth-minute lead after Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier parried Dembele’s effort right into his path.
Marquinhos headed in a second from Doue’s cross and Dembele drilled in to make it 3-0 on 28 minutes, notching his league-leading 18th goal of the campaign.
A brilliant strike from Doue made it the fourth time in five games PSG have scored four at home as the hosts clinched their 15th win in 16 matches since the turn of the year.
David’s late goal was his 12th this term although he has only scored twice since early December in the league.
“I’m not going to cry but the scheduling is scandalous and questions need to be asked,” said Lille coach Bruno Genesio, who had hoped the fixture would be rearranged given their game in Dortmund just 72 hours later.
Nice put pressure on Marseille
Nice pulled level on points with second-placed Marseille earlier in the day after a 3-1 win away to Saint-Etienne.
Pablo Rosario opened the scoring for Nice but Lucas Stassin levelled for Saint-Etienne, who were thrashed 8-0 in the first meeting between the teams in September.
An own goal from Mickael Nade put Nice back ahead early in the second half before Evann Guessand wrapped up a fourth successive victory for Franck Haise’s men.
Saint-Etienne dropped into the bottom two after Le Havre came from two goals down to beat Lens 4-3.
The hosts led through Neil El Aynaoui’s penalty and a goal from Ruben Aguilar, but Le Havre levelled before half-time thanks to Issa Soumare and Andre Ayew.
Lens went back in front through Florian Sotoca only for Josue Casimir to equalise, with Ahmed Hassan converting a stoppage-time penalty to win it for Le Havre.
Marseille host Nantes on Sunday, attempting to shake off a 3-0 defeat by Auxerre, with club president Pablo Longoria serving the start of a 15-match ban for claiming his club were victims of “corruption”.
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