Despite a lackluster performance, Paris Saint-Germain defeated bottom club Angers 2-1 on Friday to move closer to winning the Ligue 1 championship with two goals from Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe scored the game’s first goal in the ninth minute and added a second goal before the half to take the lead with 22 goals so far this season in the French premier division.
It appeared as though PSG would go on to win handily, but they slowed down in the second half, and relegation-bound Angers scored late on through Sada Thioub.
With six games remaining, PSG now leads the league by 11 points, however closest rival Marseille has the opportunity to close the gap when they go to Lyon on Sunday.
With the capital club securing a third consecutive victory to lessen the strain on embattled coach Christophe Galtier, a record-tying 11th French championship—and ninth since the Qatari takeover of 2011—is now inevitable.
Galtier was critical of his team’s performance, though, as they failed to capitalize on a bright start, similar to how all of their goals in last week’s 3-1 victory over Lens came before halftime.
“As much as we were serious and clinical in the first half, like Lens last week we took our foot off the pedal completely in the second half,” Galtier told broadcaster Amazon Prime.
“We played without any rhythm and didn’t really try to add to our lead. There is frustration for me as a coach. Of course we won and are top of the league but when you are at Paris Saint-Germain you can’t settle for only playing for half of the game.”
