BEVERLY HILLS, November 08, (THEWILL) –Â Left winger Angel Di Maria made up for lost time in Ligue 1 with a brace in a starring role in Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-0 victory over Rennes at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
The Argentine returned after a four-match ban for spitting at Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez during an ugly Classique. He last featured in France’s top flight in PSG colours against Reims on Sunday, September 27.
It was timely that he came back in this game. His pressing on Saturday forced the error from which Italian striker Moise Kean scored his third Ligue 1 goal and Di Maria added a second after 20 minutes with an audacious chip.
The visitors mixed bright play with careless passing early on and it was from one such embarrassing interchange between goalkeeper Alfred Gomis and central midfielder James Lea Siliki that Di Maria intercepted and toed into the path of Kean, who drilled expertly into the bottom-left corner.
Then, in the 13th minute, the post denied Di Maria’s excellent long-ranger on the half-volley. The awesome Argentine still doubled the lead eight minutes later with a delightful piece of skill after collecting midfielder Ander Herrera’s throughball.
Rennes central attacking midfielder Steven N’Zonzi’s aerial prowess continued to cause a couple of nervy moments for PSG, while Kean put a free header over the top himself.
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The hosts did not exhibit a great deal of adventure. However, the fact that Kean limped off in the 61st minute after Senegalese central midfielder Idrissa Gueye, German right back Thilo Kehrer and Italian Alessandro Florenzi had already been subbed perhaps explained a more measured approach.
Rennes played the second-half without ever troubling the opposition. There were handball claims against Argentine central midfielder Leandro Parades and substitute Portuguese midfielder Danilo Pereira from the same Rennes right back Hamari Traore cross were waved away by VAR.
It was game over when Di Maria found space to drift in from the right and stylishly pick out the far corner with a deflected daisy-cutter in the 73rd minute to cap a fine outing.
A below-strength PSG grabbed an important win, thanks to three moments of excellence from Di Maria. There are yet more injury concerns for the hosts, though, with Kehrer and Gueye both going off injured, and Kean stumbling off with a bit of a limp too.
The win keeps PSG top of the table, five points ahead of Lille, who play Brest on Sunday. Rennes stay third but they are now six points behind the leaders.
