Paris, Aug 23: Ousmane Dembélé missed a penalty but Fabián Ruiz scored to help Paris Saint-Germain edge Angers 1-0 in its first home game in Ligue 1.
Dembélé, considered a potential Ballon d’Or winner when the award is announced next month, wasted the penalty earned by João Neves midway through the first half on Friday. The France winger blasted the ball well over the crossbar.PSG, however, continued to control the game, and Fabián made good on the dominance when he right-footed the ball in from the center of the area in the 50th minute.
That extended PSG’s home winning run against Angers to 11 straight games.After losing the Club World Cup final to Chelsea last month, Luis Enrique’s team has won its first three games of this new season. The Champions League winners rallied to beat Tottenham on penalties to lift the European Super Cup last week.
They also won at Nantes 1-0 in their French league opener.Gianluigi Donnarumma was again left off PSG’s squad with newcomer Lucas Chevalier in goal. Donnarumma said he was parting ways with the team ahead of the European Super Cup. The narrow victory may not have been PSG’s most fluent display, but it underlined their growing resilience under Luis Enrique as they continue to juggle domestic and European ambitions.
With Dembélé yet to find his clinical touch but Ruiz and others stepping up, the champions have shown they can grind out results. (AP)
