PSG stay unbeaten, Ibrahimovic cuts Marseille's lead to a point

Paris St Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted a first-half penalty for a 1-0 home win against Nice that took his side back within a point of Ligue 1 leaders Olympique de Marseille.

Ibrahimovic, who also scored in Tuesday's 3-1 Champions League win against Ajax Amsterdam, netted from the spot in the 15th minute to put PSG on 33 points from 15 games.

It was their ninth competitive victory in a row and followed Marseille's 2-0 win over Nantes on Friday.

Laurent Blanc's PSG side were far from convincing as they lost control in the second half at the Parc des Princes.

Nice, who are 11th on 18 points, had played too conservatively in the first half but they came close to equalising in the closing stages.

After a quarter-of-an-hour Lucas, who was played in by Javier Pastore, was fouled and Ibrahimovic netted the penalty.

PSG, unbeaten in 21 games in all competitions this season, dominated possession against a Nice side who defended deep.

As the game's tempo began to drop, Blanc brought on Ezequiel Lavezzi for Lucas by and Adrien Rabiot for Blaise Matuidi but PSG failed to further threaten the Azureans goal.

Instead it was the visitors who looked dangerous, with Jordan Amavi's header hitting Salvatore Sirigu's left post in the 79th minute.

Last season's runners-up Monaco were beaten 2-0 at Stade Rennes and slipped to 10th on 20 points while the hosts moved up to fourth, nine points adrift of Marseille.

Image:  Paris St Germain's Serge Aurier (third left) and Edinson Cavani (left) celebrate with goal scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic during their Ligue1 match against Nice.

Photo: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters