Not for the first time, Paris Saint-Germain were grateful to Zlatan

Ibrahimovic as the Swede’s second-half goal secured a 1-0 win away to

Toulouse in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

It was far from a vintage performance from the champions and

relegation-threatened Toulouse were unlucky not to take anything from

the game on the day their refurbished stadium was officially inaugurated

before a crowd of more than 30,000.

Ibrahimovic converted from close range in the 73rd minute after David

Luiz had helped on a Lucas corner to give PSG their ninth consecutive

win in all competitions and allow them to extend their enormous lead at

the top of the table to 23 points from Angers in second.

Laurent Blanc’s side are still undefeated in domestic competition

this season and this result allowed them to extend their club record

unbeaten run in the league to 30 matches going back to last March.

“Toulouse caused us problems on the counter in the first half. They

undoubtedly worked on that. They were very, very defensive,” admitted

Blanc.

“That’s their way of playing. We were in difficulty in the first half because we were not as dominant as usual. 

“When you dominate in every area it is quite easy but it wasn’t the

case here,” added Blanc, who blamed the state of the pitch for his

team’s inability to play their usual game and for the injury that forced

Marquinhos off in the second half.

Toulouse remain in the relegation zone but they had lost just once in

nine outings before this game and they will at least have been buoyed

by their display in the first of three meetings with the capital side in

quick succession.

Dominique Arribage’s team travel to Paris on French Cup duty on

Tuesday evening and then go back to the Parc des Princes in the

semi-finals of the League Cup on January 27.

PSG were missing Thiago Silva and Angel di Maria due to injury and

their afternoon did not get off to the best of starts as Javier Pastore

— starting a league game for the first time since October — hobbled

off with an apparent calf problem to be replaced by Edinson Cavani in

the 18th minute.

Toulouse were the better team in

the first half and their leading scorer Wisam Ben Yedder, fresh from

netting eight times in five games, came closest to breaking the

deadlock, lashing a shot off the bar from 12 yards.

His free-kick then came to nothing after Marquinhos had brought down Tongo Hamed Doumbia right on the edge of the penalty area.

Marquinhos came off hurt on the hour mark, making way for Gregory van

der Wiel, but Paris started to threaten and Ibrahimovic teed up Lucas

to fire just wide.

Ibrahimovic finally got the breakthrough soon after, beating

Toulouse’s 16-year-old goalkeeper Alban Lafont to score his 16th league

goal of the season, all of which have come in his last 14 games.

Such a scoring run would have impressed Just Fontaine, the France

striking great who has long lived in Toulouse and was present at Le

Stadium to help unveil a stand that will carry his name.

As PSG maintained their unbeaten run, tailenders Troyes had looked on

course for their first win of the season when leading by two goals at

home against Rennes after 15 minutes following Fabien Camus and Corentin

Jean goals, only to fall to 4-2.

Defenders Anele Ngcongca and Mouhamadou Dabo put Rennes back in the

saddle, earning two penalties which Fallou Diagne slotted in after 21

and 39 minutes, either half of a goal from 18-year-old Ousmane Dembélé

(28). 

Kamil Grosicki got the fourth eight minutes from time as the Brittany

side moved provisionally fifth two points behind Monaco who travel to

Lorient on Sunday.

Guingamp, in the first relegation place, also threw away a two-goal

lead to draw 2-2 against Nantes, with Reims coming away with the same

scoreline from Ajaccio.

Bastia moved four points above the drop zone thanks to a 1-0 at

Montpellier thanks to Floyd Ayite’s strike three minutes after the

break.

Bordeaux move into the top half of the table in ninth with Cheick

Diabate’s 51st minute header the only goal of the night at home against

Lille.

On Friday, Angers lost 2-1 at Nice, who moved above Cote d’Azur

rivals Monaco into third as two late penalties by Hatem Ben Arfa turned

the game around after Pierrick Capelle’s first-half opener.

Monaco can go second and trim PSG’s lead to a mere 21 points with a

win at Lorient on Sunday before Saint-Etienne host Lyon in the

Rhone-Alpes derby.