Barcola brace guides PSG to fourth straight Ligue 1 win, maintains top spot

KATHMANDU: Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) continued their perfect start to the Ligue 1 season, registering their fourth consecutive victory with a 2-0 win over Lens on Sunday.

Bradley Barcola’s brace secured the three points for Luis Enrique Martinez’s side, keeping PSG at the summit of the league table, two points ahead of second-placed Lille.

Barcola opened the scoring in the 15th minute and doubled the lead in the 51st minute with a long-range strike from outside the penalty area.

With Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Atalanta in mind, Enrique made several changes to his starting lineup.

Nuno Mendes, João Neves, and Fabian Ruiz, who started in the previous 6-3 victory over Toulouse, were rested on the bench.

In their place, Lucas Hernandez, Warren Zaire-Emery, and Kang-in Lee were handed starts.

Injured duo Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé were replaced by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Gonzalo Ramos in the starting eleven.

However, Kvaratskhelia’s return was cut short when the Georgian winger suffered a left knee injury just 30 minutes into the match and was substituted by Ibrahim Mbaye.

At that moment, PSG were already leading 1-0.