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Paris Saint-Germain moved to within a point of Lyon at the top of the table after beating Nantes with 10 men at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
Laurent Fournier’s side dominated the game from start to finish and, even though Edouard Cissé was sent off shortly after half-time, they duly ran away with the victory thanks to two goals in the game’s final quarter from Mario Yepes and Pedro Pauleta.
PSG are now breathing down Lyon’s necks, putting the pressure on Gérard Houllier’s side ahead of the champions' tricky fixture against Rennes at the Stade de la Route de Lorient on Sunday.
Inspired by the fit-again Jérôme Rothen, PSG had too much skill and movement for a hapless Nantes side, who failed to re-produce their stirling performance of a week ago against Lyon.
They should have had the game wrapped up in the first half, but the Ligue 1’s top-scorer Pauleta was having a rare off-day.
The Portugal striker was denied by Mickael Landreau on no fewer than four occasions before the interval, with the Nantes captain notably showing his best form to parry a free kick in the 44th minute.
When Landreau was beaten, Pauleta was denied by the crossbar and for a while it looked as though PSG’s luck was out.
Nantes should have taken encouragement from Cissé’s 48th-minute dismissal, but instead the one-way traffic continued. PSG’s pressure was unrelenting, and Pauleta amazingly squandered four more chances between the 62nd and 65th minutes.
Bonaventure Kalou was then denied by a last-ditch tackle from Franck Signorino before the inevitable happened and Yepes opened the scoring.
The Colombian defender seemed to be in an offside position as he latched onto an involuntary hand ball from Kalou, but he made the most of his good fortune, cracking a ferocious drive past Landreau.
Pauleta eventually scored the goal his efforts deserved eight minutes later, receiving a pass from an indirect free kick in the Nantes penalty area, and curling a lovely shot into the top corner. It was Pauleta's seventh goal of the season and prompted will celebrations from the PSG fans, who gave their players a standing ovation at the final whistle.
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