Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were far from their best on Sunday afternoon, but they did enough to seal a tense 2-0 win away at Ligue 1 surprise package Le Havre.
The capital club suffered an early setback when Fabian Ruiz was forced off injured before goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was awarded a straight red card for a reckless foul. Nonetheless, the hero was the talismanic Kylian Mbappe.
Kylian Mbappe’s incredible goal and a deflected shot from Vitinha gave PSG a hard-fought win over Le Havre, who had chances to win it themselves after Gianluigi Donnarumma’s red card in the 10th minute. The champions are four points ahead of Nice in Ligue 1, while Le Havre remains tenth.
In seven minutes, the home team should have taken the lead when Gautier Lloris, in front of goal with the keeper out, sent his finish straight at Carlos Soler, who was covering on the line.
They’ll have believed a decent victory was within their reach when Donnarumma was ejected for a violent and unjustified hack on Josue Casimir shortly after, but Kylian Mbappe had other ideas.
In 20 minutes, the France superstar nearly scored, forcing a wonderful save from Arthur Desmas before opening the scoring with a beautiful touch and finishing from 20 yards.
Le Havre, on the other hand, did not give up, dominating the second half and wasting more chances.
Arnau Tenas, who made his debut in the Paris goal as a substitution for Donnarumma, was outstanding, as was Danilo. But then Vitinha clinched what may turn out to be a significant victory as the season comes to a close.
