Lionel Messi scored the only goal of the game in the first five minutes as Paris Saint-Germain saw off Lyon’s return to the Ligue 1 summit.
Marseille’s draw with Rennes earlier on Sunday briefly sent them top of the table, putting the pressure on Christophe Gaultier’s PSG to beat a Lyon side who have made a good start to the season. But it has slowed down in recent weeks.
Messi’s goal was the first real action of the game. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner exchanged passes with Neymar before firing the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot.
PSG had chances to extend their lead twice through Kylian Mbappe, but Lyon were hardly out of it and Gianluigi Donnarumma was soon called into action at the other end to save Toko Ekambi and Alexandre Lacazette both minutes later. Be rejected at a distance.
The visitors regained the upper hand and went very close to scoring a second goal when Castillo Luciba cleared one from the goal line from Messi after dummying goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.
Both sides had more chances and the ball found its way into the net again before the end of the match, with Sergio Ramos nodding in the rebound from Messi’s free-kick which Lopes tipped onto the post. But a flag was raised and it was ruled out for offside.
PSG have now won four Ligue 1 games on the bounce since a 1-1 draw against Monaco last month and are unbeaten in any of them. They have a two-point lead over Marseille at the top of the table, with a home game against Nice after the international break.