(AFP) - Brazilian star Neymar continued his brilliance this season in the ranks of Paris Saint-Germain by scoring a goal and making another, to lead him to a victory over Lorient 2-1 on Sunday in the fourteenth stage of the French Football Championship .
Neymar gave the capital club the lead in the ninth minute, and Nigerian Terim Movi equalized for the home side in the 53rd minute, before the Brazilian international made the winning goal for the guests with a corner kick that Portuguese midfielder Danilo Pereira took advantage of and headed it into the goal (81).
Neymar raised his tally of goals in the league to 11, equal to his teammate Kylian Mbappe at the top of the scorers list. Neymar also contributed nine assists this season.
It is the fourth successive victory for Saint-Germain in the league and the twelfth this season, and he kept his record free of loss, raising his score to 38 points and returning the difference to five between him and his direct chaser Lens, who defeated his host Angers 2-1 on Saturday.
The Parisian club played the match in the absence of its other star, Argentine international Lionel Messi, due to an inflammation of the Achilles tendon, so young striker Hugo Iketiki played instead.
Less than 9 minutes later, Ikitiki snatched the ball from Lorient's Swiss goalkeeper Yvonne Mfugo and passed it towards Neymar, who dodged a defender before firing into the net.
However, Lorient, the surprise of the season, equalized through Movi at the beginning of the second half (53).
The last word was for Saint-Germain, for whom Pereira scored the winning goal nine minutes before the end of the match, with a header from a corner kick.
"There were two periods in the match, the first in the first half when we dominated and scored a goal and we could have added three or four goals," Galtier said. "And the second in the second half when we did not continue our efforts and lost many doubles and paid the price with the equalizer."
"But there was also a reaction, and we achieved our victory thanks to the desire of the players," he added.
He praised his Brazilian star, saying, "Neymar, in form since July 4, is making a lot of effort. He is preparing great and is obviously very excited about the World Cup finals (...) But for me there is no reason why he should not perform well in the half." The second of the season.
Saint-Germain has not lost a match locally or continentally since the beginning of the current season, which no other team has achieved in the five major tournaments at the European level.
On the other hand, Lorient lost fourth place to Monaco, who now surpasses it on goal difference, after beating its host Toulouse with two clean goals scored by Russian Alexander Golovin (46) and Swiss Brill Embolo (60).
It is the second successive victory for the Principality team and the eighth this season, raising its tally to 27 points, on goal difference against Lorient, which is threatened to drop to sixth place if Marseille beats its guest Lyon later, and on goal difference against Rennes III, who is also a guest at Lille later.
Neighbor Nice followed the example of Monaco and achieved its second victory in a row when it defeated its guest Brest with a single goal scored by Gaetan Laborde in the 54th minute.
Lille braked Rennes, forcing it to a 1-1 draw.
Lille was the first to score with his Portuguese defender, Jose Fonte, in the sixteenth minute, and Rennes got a penalty kick at the beginning of the second half, which Benjamin Borrego successfully set out (58).
Rennes was Yemeni with its sixth successive and ninth victory this season to bring the difference back to three points between him and Lens, but he settled for one point with his fourth draw this season.
Rennes raised his score to 28 points, compared to 23 points for the seventh night.
Reims beat Nantes with a single goal, scored by Englishman Florian Balogun in the 83rd minute.
Nantes played with ten players since the 54th minute, after defender Nicholas Baloa was sent off for receiving a second yellow card.
Clermont-Ferrand tied with Montpellier with a goal by the Croatian Komnen Andric (62) against a goal by Tigi Savanier (10 from the penalty spot).
Clement Ferran missed two penalty kicks, the first by Andric in the 41st minute, and the second by Gregon Key in the 78th minute.