Paris Saint-Germain continued their march towards the Ligue 1 title as Marco Verratti inspired them to a 4-0 home victory against Stade de Reims on Sunday and Lionel Messi made his first appearance of the year.
Italy midfielder Verratti found the back of the net for PSG for the first time since 2019, while Sergio Ramos scored his first goal for the capital side. Wout Faes scored an own goal, and Danilo Pereira added another to put PSG on 53 points from 22 matches.
They lead Nice, who beat Metz 2-0 away earlier on Sunday, by 11 points with Olympique de Marseille in third place two points further adrift but with a game in hand.
The defeat left Reims, who got off to a promising start at the Parc des Princes, in 14th place on 24 points. With Messi on the bench and back in the squad for the first time this year, having contracted Covid-19 during the break, PSG started with Kylian Mbappe, Mauro Icardi and Angel Di Maria up front.
Verratti broke the deadlock just before half-time when he whipped a low shot past Predrag Rajkovic.
It then became easier for the hosts and Ramos doubled the advantage on 63 minutes from close range after Pereira’s header had been deflected into the Spaniard’s path by Andreaw Gravillon.
Verratti’s shot from Messi’s pass was then deflected by Faes into his own goal shortly after the Argentine came on to replace Di Maria in the 64th minute.
Zlatan injured
AC Milan were held to a 0-0 draw by Juventus at the San Siro on Sunday, as they dropped to third in Serie A, four points behind leaders Inter Milan. In a first half of few chances, Milan were dealt a blow after veteran striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic picked up an injury and had to be taken off.
While Juve were content to sit back, Milan looked the more likely to snatch victory, with Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud forcing visiting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny into several saves.
The hosts could not find a way through and had to settle for the draw that moved them onto 49 points from 23 games as Napoli, following their win over Salernitana earlier on Sunday, climbed above Milan into second on goal difference.
