French giants beat Angers 3-0, but Marseille\u2019s 3-2 win pushes party forward
\nNews agency
\nPARIS:
\nParis Saint-Germain won 3-0 away at Angers on Wednesday but will have to wait a little longer to be confirmed as Ligue 1 champions after nearest challengers Marseille beat Nantes 3-2.
\nPSG started the day 15 points clear with six games left and so knew they could clinch their eighth Ligue 1 crown in 10 years if second-placed Marseille slipped up.
\nMauricio Pochettino\u2019s side got the result they needed, brushing aside struggling Angers despite being without the injured Lionel Messi and the suspended Neymar.
\nKylian Mbappe put PSG in front as Ligue 1\u2019s leading scorer notched his 22nd of the season just before the half-hour mark at the Stade Raymond Kopa.
\nSergio Ramos then marked a rare appearance by doubling the lead in first-half stoppage time when he headed in Angel Di Maria\u2019s cross, and his central defensive colleague Marquinhos added a late third.
\nHowever PSG, who had young midfielder Edouard Michut sent off in stoppage time, were made to wait for the record-equalling 10th French title in their history as Amine Harit\u2019s strike gave Marseille victory at the Velodrome.
\nOM came from behind twice against Nantes through Dimitri Payet penalties before Harit struck in the 75th minute to make it 3-2 and secure a precious win for Jorge Sampaoli\u2019s side as they chase Champions League qualification.
\nPSG remain 15 points clear with just 15 points left to play for and also boast a far superior goal difference.
\nThey will be confirmed champions on Saturday with a point at home to Lens.
\n\u201cIt is really important for us to win the championship and I hope we can do it on Saturday,\u201d Pochettino told broadcaster Canal Plus.
\n\u201cWe always talk about wanting to win the Champions League but there is also value in winning the league,\u201d he told reporters later.
\n\u201cPSG must accord value to every competition they play in. Let\u2019s hope we can celebrate the title together with our fans on Saturday.\u201d
\nA 10th title will see them equal the record set by the Saint-Etienne side of Michel Platini when they won their last championship in 1981.
\nThe capital club had only been French champions twice before the Qatari takeover of 2011.
\nBehind them Marseille are now six points clear in second place, with only the top two in Ligue 1 qualifying automatically for the Champions League and third place entering in the qualifying rounds.
\nRennes remain third but are only above Strasbourg and Monaco on goal difference while Nice are two points back in sixth.
\nStrasbourg beat Rennes 2-1 in Alsace with Ludovic Ajorque grabbing their winner after Martin Terrier had cancelled out Habib Diallo\u2019s early opener for the home side.
\nMeanwhile Monaco have surged back into European contention and climbed above Nice by beating their Cote d\u2019Azur rivals 1-0 on Wednesday thanks to a first-half strike by Russian international Aleksandr Golovin.
\nIt was a fifth consecutive victory for the principality side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
French giants beat Angers 3-0, but Marseille\u2019s 3-2 win pushes party forward News agency PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain won 3-0 away at Angers on Wednesday but will have to wait a little longer to be confirmed as Ligue 1 champions after nearest challengers Marseille beat Nantes 3-2. PSG started the day 15 points clear with six […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6228,2516],"class_list":{"0":"post-256636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-celebrations","9":"tag-psg"},"yoast_head":"\n