The China Mail - PSG get Ligue 1 title defence off to winning start

The Portuguese midfielder's effort midway through the second half beat goalkeeper Anthony Lopes with the aid of a wicked deflection off Nantes defender Chidozie Awaziem to break the deadlock.

PSG were made to work hard for their victory as coach Luis Enrique made seven changes to his starting line-up following the UEFA Super Cup win on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in midweek.

That was the first game of the new campaign for last season's Champions League winners, who only began pre-season training on August 6 having gone all the way to the Club World Cup final in the United States in mid-July.

They did not play any friendly matches prior to that and are therefore likely to require several weeks before getting close to the level at which they performed last season.

However, they still had enough against a hard-working but punchless Nantes side, playing a first competitive match under new Portuguese coach Luis Castro.

Ukraine defender Illia Zabarnyi played 90 minutes on his PSG debut after arriving at the start of the week from Bournemouth in a reported 66 million-euro (£57m, $76.7m) deal.

Lucas Chevalier also started with the new arrival from Lille having immediately taken over from Gianluigi Donnarumma as Luis Enrique's first-choice goalkeeper.

The likes of Ousmane Dembele, Achraf Hakimi, Desire Doue, Nuno Mendes and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia all started the game on the bench but the substitutes played a part in the goal which came on 67 minutes.

Dembele played a corner from the PSG left short to Mendes and his square pass was controlled by Vitinha before the playmaker fired in.

Goncalo Ramos, who hit the bar in the first half, then had an effort disallowed for offside late on, before Bradley Barcola clipped a shot just wide.

PSG's next game will be at home to Angers next Friday evening.

Elsewhere on Sunday, France's 2018 World Cup-winning striker Olivier Giroud scored his first goal for Lille in their 3-3 draw at Brest.

Angers beat newly-promoted Paris FC 1-0 with Esteban Lepaul scoring the only goal early on and the hosts holding on despite playing most of the second half down to 10 men.

Strasbourg were 1-0 winners at Metz thanks to a late strike by Argentine summer signing Joaquin Panichelli.

Auxerre beat Lorient 1-0, and it is Monaco who are the first league leaders in France this season thanks to their 3-1 win over Le Havre on Saturday.

L.Kwan--ThChM