Paris Saint-Germain came through their biggest test of the season so far on Sunday, winning 3-1 away to fellow Champions League contenders Lille to maintain their perfect record in Ligue 1 since Kylian Mbappe’s departure.
Vitinha put them ahead on a stiflingly hot night in northern France with a penalty after Ousmane Dembele was brought down in the area.
Bradley Barcola, the in-form France international winger, doubled their lead soon after, as Lille found the going tough four days after holding off Slavia Prague in a play-off tie to qualify for the league phase of the Champions League.
The excellent Edon Zhegrova pulled one back for Lille in the second half, and they were only denied a late equaliser when a tight offside call ruled out a Tiago Santos goal.
PSG then secured the points in stoppage time as Randal Kolo Muani headed in a cross by recent signing Desire Doue.
Luis Enrique’s side are the only team with maximum points three games into the French season and have already scored 13 goals, suggesting losing Mbappe is not the disaster some might have feared.
PSG will begin their Champions League campaign in mid-September at home to Girona and will also take on Arsenal and Manchester City, amongst others, in the league phase.
Lille, meanwhile, can look forward to hosting Mbappe’s Real Madrid and Juventus in the coming weeks, although first they will go to Lisbon to play Sporting.
The Parisians are two points clear in Ligue 1 from a quartet of teams, with Marseille, Nantes, Lens and Monaco all on seven points after three outings.
Marseille won 3-1 at Toulouse on Saturday with Mason Greenwood netting twice, while Nantes beat Montpellier by the same score away from home.
Monaco and Lens drew 1-1 on Sunday as Przemyslaw Frankowski netted a stoppage-time penalty to secure a point for the visitors in the principality.
