Paris Saint Germain 1 - 0 Stade Rennais FC: Lavezzi keeps pressure on Lyon

Posted Saturday, January 31, 2015 by PA

Paris St Germain kept the heat on Ligue 1 leaders Lyon as they moved into second thanks to a 1-0 victory over Rennes at Parc des Princes on Friday night.

Ezequiel Lavezzi struck just before the half-hour mark as the hosts took the lead and held on to record a narrow victory and extend their winning streak to five matches in all competitions.

Laurent Blanc's reigning champions sit one point behind Lyon and two ahead of third-placed Marseille, both of whom have yet to play this weekend, while the defeat leaves Rennes 10th.

The visitors came close to opening the scoring midway through the first half as Fallou Diagne collected Pedro Henrique's pass on the right of the 18-yard box but his shot from a tight angle went inches wide.

PSG scored with what was their first real effort of note after 29 minutes with a great team goal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent a brilliant ball toward Adrien Rabiot, who immediately picked out Javier Pastore with a cross and Argentina international Lavezzi was waiting in the centre of the goal and powered home a close-range finish.

Five minutes later the visitors had the chance for a quick-fire equaliser but when midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure raced toward the goal to challenge Salvatore Sirigu, the PSG keeper won the duel with a brilliant bit of goalkeeping.

Just before half-time Sweden striker Ibrahimovic missed the chance to double his side's score as he shot wide of the Rennes goal.

The hosts started the second half strong and Edinson Cavani picked up Marquinhos' cross from the left and the Uruguay international controlled it well before firing a low shot towards goal, but Benoit Costil went down for a decent save.

Ibrahimovic turned defender after 54 minutes as he headed clear Paul-Georges Ntep's dangerous free-kick just outside the penalty box, while - down at the other end - Pastore fired inches wide as PSG looked to add a second.

Rennes came close to netting an leveller deep into the second half but Henrique failed to fully control the ball from Sylvain Armand and Sirigu blocked his effort as he kept a clean sheet.