Montpellier 0 - 1 Paris Saint Germain : Matuidi strike enough for PSG

Posted Saturday, August 22, 2015 by PA

Blaise Matuidi scored his second goal of the season as Paris St Germain made it three league wins out of three with a 1-0 victory against bottom club Montpellier.

Matuidi had scored in the 2-0 win over Ajaccio in week two, and came up with the goods from close range in the 61st minute at Montpellier's Stade de la Mosson.

It was a very open game in which either team could have broken the deadlock in the first half, but somehow the sides went into the break goalless.

PSG were dealt a blow early on with the loss of Javier Pastore to injury and also had two goals ruled out for offside.

However, Matuidi's strike proved enough for the champions, who are still missing star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic to a knee injury and have yet to give new signing Angel Di Maria his debut.

PSG have not conceded in Ligue 1 so this season and had to work hard to maintain that in the first half, with the likes of Paul Lasne and Djamel Bakar doing well for the hosts.

David Luiz's free-kick for the champions had tested goalkeeper Jonathan Ligali on six minutes, before Pastore appeared to land his foot awkwardly when finishing a pass and had to be replaced by Adrien Rabiot.

Still, PSG were able to threaten just enough to keep Montpellier on guard, Rabiot himself firing a low shot which Ligali saved, while Edinson Cavani shanked a difficult chance on the bounce well over.

Serge Aurier thought he had given the visitors the lead 10 minutes before the break, heading in a free-kick, but he was one of at least two PSG players in an offside position.

Montpellier, far from being alarmed, nearly provided the perfect response at the restart as Ramy Bensebaini got his head to a free-kick and only a fine save from Kevin Trapp prevented a goal.

A moment of controversy came when Cavani rounded Ligali outside the box and scored only for the offside flag to go up, though replays showed the decision was marginal at best.

The game was opening up nicely and PSG at last showed their quality in the final third seconds after the hour mark.

Ezequiel Lavezzi was fouled in the build-up but the referee allowed play to continue and Maxwell took advantage to slot a quick pass to Matuidi, who turned and fired in from a tight angle to beat Ligali at his near post.

It seemed to quieten both the crowd and the Montpellier players, even if Bakar attempted a tame shot which was caught easily by Trapp.

The visitors nearly grabbed a second goal when substitute Jean-Kevin Augustin was played through in the box by Lucas Moura and Ligali had to save well with his feet.

Montpellier had one last chance, via substitute Souleymane Camara in stoppage time. Jonas Martin recycled a half-cleared corner with his head and Camara attempted a bicycle kick from the edge of the box, but his effort flew over.