PARIS
\nKylian Mbappe broke away to score a last-minute winner as Paris Saint-Germain beat Brest 2-1 on Saturday, a result that will go a small way towards healing the wound of their midweek Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.
\nPSG have been left with just the Ligue 1 title to play for in the remaining months of the season after the Qatar-owned club were knocked out of Europe\u2019s elite club competition in the last 16 with a 3-0 aggregate defeat.
\nThey took the lead on their trip to Brittany in the 37th minute when Carlos Soler followed in to score after Mbappe\u2019s shot had been parried by Brest goalkeeper Marco Bizot.
\nYet the home side, battling to avoid relegation, drew level before half-time through Franck Honorat and it looked like they would hold on for a precious point in their fight to avoid relegation.
\nBut then Mbappe, who had just been booked for kicking Brest midfielder Haris Belkebla in the back of the calf, was sent through on goal byLionel Messi and rounded Bizot to score.
\nDespite an unconvincing performance, the result allows PSG to extend their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 11 points over nearest challengers Marseille.
\n\u201cPeople can say it is a little victory but it is a victory. Not everything was perfect but we had lots of chances and we shouldn\u2019t let the fact we needed a last-minute winner hide that,\u201d PSG coach Christophe Galtier told broadcaster Canal Plus.
\n\u201cTo come here and win three days after our disappointment against Bayern was very important. We are in a fight for the title. The context is obviously not favourable but winning was the main thing.\u201d
\nPSG, who are chasing what would be a French record 11th league title and a ninth in the Qatar era, were missing a host of players at the Stade Francis-Le Ble, including Neymar.
\nThe Brazilian is recovering after undergoing an operation on damaged ankle ligaments in Doha and is not expected to play again this season.
\nSpanish international Soler was one of three players brought into the Paris line-up following Wednesday\u2019s 2-0 defeat in the second leg of their tie against Bayern in Germany.
\nThe former Valencia player almost opened the scoring early on, but his powerful shot from a Messi assist was tipped onto the post by Bizot.
\nSoler did then open the scoring, only for Honorat to control a long ball forward by Romain Del Castillo and hold off Sergio Ramos and Timothee Pembele before firing in the equaliser.
\nBizot saved well from Messi in the second half but the Dutch goalkeeper could not prevent Mbappe scoring the winner as the France superstar took his tally for the season to 31 in all competitions for his club.
\nHe is level at the top of the Ligue 1 scorers\u2019 charts on 19 goals with Canada\u2019s Jonathan David, who scored a hat-trick for Lille in their 3-3 draw with Lyon on Friday.
\nRennes, who are fifth, drew 0-0 at Auxerre in Saturday\u2019s other game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Kylian Mbappe broke away to score a last-minute winner as Paris Saint-Germain beat Brest 2-1 on Saturday, a result that will go a small way towards healing the wound of their midweek Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich. PSG have been left with just the Ligue 1 title to play for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-319158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n