Lyonnais 1 - 2 Paris Saint Germain: Edinson Cavani's brace allows PSG to close the gap on leaders Nice

Posted Monday, November 28, 2016 by PA

Edinson Cavani scored a brace as Paris St Germain capitalised on Ligue 1 leaders Nice's slip earlier in the day with a 2-1 win at Lyon.

In what proved to be an entertaining clash at the Stade Lumieres, a double from the Uruguayan proved enough to see off a stubborn Lyon side who were unlucky not to take something from the game.

Maximum points for Unai Emery's side means they move level with second-placed Monaco and are now just a point behind Nice who were held to a 1-1 home draw by Bastia earlier on Sunday.

The Parisiens looked to apply some early pressure on their hosts, bombarding the area with crosses.

And it was from a corner that they created the first chance of the game but Thiago Motta's downward header ended up the wrong side of the post from Lucas Moura's delivery.

After being handed his first start since September, Hatem Ben Arfa was looking to impress against the team where he began his career, but the much-maligned forward was wasteful as PSG continued to look for the opening goal.

Blaise Matuidi saw his first-time effort blocked by former Manchester United defender Rafael as the pressure continued before Lucas went down inside the penalty area under a Jeremy Morel challenge, only for referee Rudy Buquet to wave away the visitors' claims.

Lucas then wasted the best chance of the opening half an hour, seeing a weak first-time flick gathered easily by goalkeeper Anthony Lopes after good link-up play involving Marco Verratti and Serge Aurier, before PSG get their reward for an impressive start.

Motta was clumsily brought down by Rafael inside the area and Cavani took charge from the resulting spot-kick, confidently hammering the ball straight down the middle for his 12th goal in as many league games.

Lucas should have made it 2-0 10 minutes before the break when Cavani opted to tee him up rather than shoot but, after beating Lopes with a stinging effort, PSG's Brazilian forward dragged his effort wide of goal.

In an effort to turn the game on its head, Bruno Genesio threw on Mathieu Valbuena and Nabil Fekir at the interval, and that proved to be a masterstroke as the former levelled things up in a matter of minutes.

Rafael was extremely unfortunate, after cutting in from the right, to see a bending effort beat Alphonse Areola before coming back off a post but Valbuena was on hand to hammer the rebound home in the 48th minute.

Alexandre Lacazette should have doubled Lyon's tally inside the first five minutes of the second half when Areola completely missed his clearance but the France international lost his footing at the crucial moment.

PSG were at sixes and sevens as Lacazette went close again, this time beating Areola to Morel's cross before steering the ball off target while Maxime Gonalons saw a fizzing effort fly just wide of the upright shortly afterwards.

Fekir and Rachid Ghezzal both failed to make the most of opportunities in what was proving to be an open second 45 minutes while Cavani had a goal ruled out at the other end, his well-taken bicycle-kick chalked off by the linesman's flag.

Then, with less than 10 minutes to play, PSG grabbed the crucial third goal of the game to claim the points.

Following a wasted Lyon free-kick, the champions were allowed to break as Aurier's run presented Thomas Munier with possession and his pinpoint delivery was headed beyond Lopes by Cavani for his second goal of the game.