PSG remains league leader with home win

PSG remains league leader with home win

Published Jan. 14, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

Paris Saint-Germain gave new coach Carlo Ancelotti his first home win by beating Toulouse 3-1 to maintain its lead at the top of the French first division on Saturday.

Nene scored in each half as PSG gradually applied the pressure after making a slow start, and record signing Javier Pastore added the other goal to make it a memorable night for Ancelotti.

Despite a pleasing night for most of the 45,000 fans at Parc des Princes, Ancelotti expected more from his players.

''We have to improve our way of playing, we want to play good football for the whole match,'' said Ancelotti, who twice won the Champions League with AC Milan as both player and coach. ''We had a lot of chances to score more tonight.''

ADVERTISEMENT

PSG remains three points clear of Montpellier, which beat Lyon 1-0 thanks to top scorer Olivier Giroud's 14th league goal of the season. There was pushing and shoving in the tunnel between both teams after the game.

''It was a deserved victory,'' said Montpellier coach Rene Girard, whose son was involved in a heated verbal exchange with Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez. ''I don't have any lessons to learn from (Michel) Bastos or Lopez.''

On Sunday, French champion Lille plays at resurgent Marseille.

Ancelotti is already making his mark at PSG.

The Italian coach left out Kevin Gameiro, a first-choice striker under former coach Antoine Kombouare, while Mevlut Erding was not even on the bench. Ancelotti moved Jeremy Menez off the wing and put him at center forward.

PSG has missed out on signing former England captain David Beckham and AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato, but Ancelotti remains confident a big name will arrive soon, with PSG also linked with a move for Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez.

''I would like to have the best players to improve the team,'' Ancelotti said. ''That's the club's objective.''

PSG's new formation, with Pastore and Nene flanking Menez, failed to click in a drab first half, and PSG's opening goal in the 38th minute had a touch of good fortune about it.

A cross from the right looked harmless enough, but Serbian defender Pavle Ninkov slipped as he went to clear the ball, and Nene pounced to beat goalkeeper Ali Ahamada with a shot that took a slight deflection.

Pastore then made it 2-0 in the 56th. Menez turned provider as he slipped a pass to Pastore as he ran into space, and the midfielder took the ball past Daniel Congre with one touch and stroked it into the bottom right corner.

Nene's second goal was the best of the night, as he controlled a high pass on his chest, skipped past a defender on the edge of the area, drew Ahamada off his line and clipped the ball into the corner.

Daniel Braaten scored late on for Toulouse.

PSG has 43 points after 20 matches, Montpellier has 40, Lille 36, and Lyon stays in fourth place with 35.

share