Two penalties by Lucas Moura and a clever chip by Ezequiel Lavezzi helped champions Paris Saint Germain beat Bordeaux 3-0 in Ligue 1 on Saturday and put pressure on leaders Marseille.
Resurgent Marseille have 25 points ahead of their game on Sunday at Lyon, where they can clinch a club record 10th straight league win. PSG are second with 21 having played a game more.
In later matches, eight-times former champions Nantes, back in the top flight since last year, climbed to third on 19 points after their 1-1 home draw with Reims.
And last season’s runners-up Monaco beat Bastia 3-1 away to climb to sixth on 17 points despite a long injury list.
Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol had promised to take the game to the champions and his outfit went into the game level on points with the Parisians.
But with Brazilian international centre-back pair Thiago Silva and David Luiz holding firm, Paris always looked superior in that part of the pitch.
With Edinson Cavani suspended and Zlatan Ibrahimovic injured, PSG coach Laurent Blanc started with a makeshift front three of Javier Pastore, Lucas and speedy youngster Jean-Christophe Bahebeck.
Bordeaux had reason for early cheer on 27 minutes when Gregory van Der Wiel delivered a wild studs-up kick to Wahbi Khazri’s heel with the ball gone and the referee right behind him.
He was sent off, but the numerical advantage would last a mere ten minutes.
Andre Poko’s complete miss as he swung at a stray ball would have been comical if the Bordeaux midfielder hadn’t ended up connecting with Marco Verratti’s knee, and while he was unfortunate, he had to walk too.
Sagnol was furious with the red card decision against Poko.
“If that was a red card then maybe (instead of playing football) we should dance or do figure skating. The referee had the red card out before Veratti even hit the deck,” he complained.
Blanc agreed with Sagnol suggesting neither foul had been worth a straight red.
“The sending off motivated the team, but I’d have liked to see 11 against 11. There is such a thing as a yellow card, and both players who were fouled were able to play on. This is a contact sport,” he explained.
With Bordeaux deflated PSG went on the offensive.
From the ensuing free-kick Luiz was already turning to celebrate a goal but saw his thunderous shot come back off the post with the wall and ‘keeper well beaten.
PSG then spurned a series of chances before Verratti was brought down in the area as the pressure mounted.
With Ibrahimovic and Cavani absent penalty duty fell to Lucas, who stepped up in his pink boots and sent Stephane Carrasso the wrong way, his spot-kick ripping into the opposite corner.
Five minutes into the second-half Lucas himself was brought down as he beat the offside trap and PSG were awarded another penalty.
The Brazilian coolly planted his second spot-kick in the other corner, Carrasso diving the right way but unable to deal with the venom of the shot.
Lavezzi, who was returning after being out injured for a month, completed the scoring nine minutes from time when his close-range chip took a deflection off defender Maxime Poundje on its way into the net.
Elsewhere Caen notched up their first home points after four straight defeats in their own stadium with a 2-1 win over Lorient, and Reims scored a last minute goal to beat Montpellier 1-0.
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