Nice stun Paris Saint-Germain to claim victory in the capital
An era came to an end as PSG bid farewell to Marco Verratti before kick-off, but Les Aiglons were in no mood to partake in the pleasantries.
Having done well to press their hosts and defend resolutely under pressure, limiting PSG to an audacious attempt from Ousmane Dembele in the 21st minute, Francesco Farioli’s side took the lead when Terem Moffi's shot wrong-footed Gianluigi Donnarumma and nestled in the bottom corner, with help from a deflection off Lucas Hernandez.
After a curling strike from Khephren Thuram was palmed away by Donnarumma, Nice had a lucky escape when Dembele made a complete mess of his shot after running through on goal.
Kylian Mbappe wasn’t as forgiving, meeting Achraf Hakimi’s cutback with a powerful strike that squirmed through Marcin Bulka’s grasp a mere eight minutes after PSG had fallen behind.
Both teams had the chance to go ahead before the break, but Dembele struck wide after Gaetan Laborde’s misplaced pass presented him with an opportunity, while at the other end, Jordan Lotomba fired harmlessly over with the final kick of the half.
For all of PSG’s passing, Moffi showed the merits of good old-fashioned direct play when he raced behind Danilo Pereira to collect Morgan Sanson’s ball forward, jinked his way into some space and played the ball across for Gaetan Laborde to prod home.
Sofiane Diop’s tame attempt wasted a brilliant chance to double Nice’s lead soon after, but Moffi once again silenced the Parc des Princes as he played a one-two with Laborde to break through again, before squaring up Milan Skriniar and sending a pinpoint effort out of Donnarumma’s reach.
Mbappe scored a spectacular second of his own with an acrobatic strike from Randal Kolo Muani’s dinked cross in the 87th minute, but Nice held on to continue their unbeaten start to the season and earn back-to-back victories.
They also jumped above PSG and into second ahead of the other Ligue 1 fixtures over the weekend, as well as inflicting Les Parisiens’ first defeat of the campaign.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Terem Moffi (Nice)
