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Paris Saint-Germain opened its Ligue 1 campaign with a narrow 1-0 victory in Nantes, but they worked hard for the three points.
Luis Enrique’s side dominated possession, but a decided defense of Nantes frustrated the champions in a first half of Cagey.
Goncalo Ramos struck the crossbar, while Kang-in Lee and Bradley Barcola provided dangerous crosses, but PSG struggled to find the advance.
At the other end, Mostafa Mohamed and Yassine Benhaattab spokenly threatened to the counter, although Gianluca Chevalier remained largely unprofitable.
Enrique went to his bench in the beginning of the second half, introducing Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi in search of an attacking impulse.
The changes were paid for 67 minutes when Mendes found Vitinha on the edge of the box. The effort of the midfielder made a wicked deviation from Chidozie Awaziem, the mistake of the wrong foot and nesting in the lower corner.
PSG thought that they had doubled the advantage ten minutes later, as Ramos ended coolly from Doue’s pass, but Var ruled him closely out of play.
The visitors continued to press, with a boat firing a shot of inches wide, but Nantes met late, Substitute Tabibou fired in the stoppage while desperately looking for an equalizer.
Statistics reflected PSG control, with 1.33 goals expected compared to Nantes’ 0.1, although Enrique’s men were forced to achieve victory.
Nantes travels to Strasburg next Sunday, while PSG hosted Angers on Friday, with the aim of starting its winning start.
