Monaco drawed against Nantes yesterday, Olympique Lyon drawed against Brest earlier today – PSG used the opportunity to divide themselves from some of the contenders for the title. Final score 1-2 in what was a bleak performance from the Saints.Many of the stars that came to Parc de Princes during the ongoing transfer window were still out of the rotation – some due to injury, some are resting after busy action with their respective national teams.Mauricio Pochettino could not rely on important players such as Neymar, Ramos, Donnarumma, Di Maria, Gueye, Marquinhos and Veratti. Kylian Mbappe was leading the attacking three, assisted by Mauro Icardi and Julian Draxler. The only new massive signing on the pitch from the first minute was ex-Inter wing-back, Moroccan Achraf Hakimi.And it did not start well for the favourites. Ligue 1 returnees Troyes (part of Manchester City’s group) surprisingly took the lead in the 9th minute, after a perfectly taken corner kick. Oualid El Hajjam got on the end of it and produced a fantastic bullet header from around the penalty spot which goes inside the right post.PSG did not leave anything to chance and managed to level the score straight away. In the 21st minute already it was 1-1 – Hakimi scored as he latched on to a pass inside the penalty box and fired a perfect strike into the roof of the net and behind Gauthier Gallon.And it did not take long for the Parisians to turn it around fully. Mauro Icardi scored 3 minutes later as he received the ball inside the box, reacted quickly and without any problems stabbed the ball in the middle of the goal.Few minutes later, Troyes tried to get back in the game – Renaud Ripart picked up a pass and tried with an effort from the edge of the box, but Keylor Navas got down to his right to keep it out.Second half was not as near as interesting as the first. PSG dominated with possession but did not really create much chances.Troyes mostly tried to endanger Navas via Bissau-Guinean forward Mama Balde who was not easy to control for the PSG defence. However, finishing was not a stronger feature of the underdog home team of Troyes.After the lead, PSG focused mostly on bringing the game to an end. They did not look overpowering, they even looked inferior at times but Troyes lacked quality and fortune to equalize against the favourites from the capital.The football enthusiasts will have to wait a while to see all the new signings on the pitch playing together. There is a big possibility at least one of them will play against Strasbourg in a week.LIGUE 1ROUND 1FridayMonaco – Nantes 1-1 (1-1)/Martins 14′ – Castelleto 42’/SaturdayLyonnais- Stade Brestois 29 1-1 (0-1)/Slimani 62′ – Cardona 43’/Troyes – PSG 1-2 (1-2)/El Hajjam 9′ – Hakimi 19′, Icardi 21’/Sunday14:00 Stade Rennais – RC Lens16:00 Bordeaux – Clermont Foot 6316:00 OGC Nice – Stade de Reims16.00 Saint-Etienne – Lorient16:00 Strasbourg – Angers18:00 Metz – Lille OSC21:45 Montpellier – Olympique de Marseille
