PSG sink managerless Lille to halt slide

PARIS: Runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain shook off the absence of the suspended Neymar on Saturday to end their recent wobble with a 3-1 win over managerless Lille in Ligue 1.

Angel Di Maria nodded in a cross from Kylian Mbappe on 28 minutes at a chilly Parc des Princes, with Javier Pastore powering in a second just after half-time.

Anwar El Ghazi gave Lille, who suspended manager Marcelo Bielsa last month and replaced him with a team of four interim coaches, a glimmer of hope by pulling a goal back four minutes from time.

But with goalkeeper Mike Maignan up for a last-gasp corner, Mbappe burst free of the Lille backline after the ball was cleared upfield to dribble in a third as PSG ended a run of back-to-back defeats.

The win kept kept Unai Emery’s team nine points clear of reigning champions Monaco — 3-2 winners at home to Troyes — at the top and ensured PSG will head into the new year in first place in France.

Defeat snapped a two-match winning run for Lille and left them just two points clear of the relegation zone ahead of Saturday’s later games.

PSG were looking to end their worst week of the season, after a 2-1 defeat at Strasbourg last weekend was followed by a 3-1 reverse away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

It was the first time in three years that PSG had lost successive games, but the capital club set about righting the ship as Di Maria headed in an Mbappe cross — the flag staying down despite the Frenchman straying marginally offside.

PSG lost midfielder Adrien Rabiot to an apparent hamstring injury at the break, but Pastore doubled the hosts’ advantage by blasting past Maignan after Marco Verratti robbed Ibrahim Amadou of possession deep in Lille territory.