10-man Paris Saint-Germain overcomes strong resistance from Lille to win

Adrien Rabiot was given his marching order by referee in the 27th minute for a second yellow card before Lucas Moura scored the decisive goal in the second half, the BBC reported.

Blanc hopes Di Maria, who watched his new team-mates from the Stade Pierre-Mauroy stands on Friday, can bring more quality to a team which started 2015-16 with a battling away performance.

Not only is it the first opening day win since a 3-1 home success over AS Saint-Etienne back in 2010-11, it is the first time the capital club have achieved the feat on the road since a 1-0 triumph in Strasbourg at the start of the 1996-97 season.

“It is a fact of the game“, he said.

“Rabiot’s first yellow card is a little bit harsh”, the head coach continued in the post-match press conference. “But I prefer playing eleven”.

With Angel di Maria is expected to finally be unveiled as Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday in Paris, they seem to have forgotten that the beginning of the new Ligue 1 season is just around the corner.

They were at times shaken by Lille but their defence held firm and they needed only one clear chance to take advantage despite going down to 10 men.

But the misfortune of Rabiot, who has been no stranger to controversy, spurred Blanc’s side into action.

Lille’s Eric Bauthéac stepped up but failed to convert the resulting free kick which David Luiz and PSG’s new goalkeeper Kevin Trapp managed to contain. “It is only the beginning, but we see that there is a lot to play for on the field”.

For Lille it was their first loss of a season-opener since 2009. “And if you add that we had no injuries this evening it’s really a very good night”.

“I am very happy”, he said. Some of the Italian’s passing was already at its impeccable best, with the pint-sized midfielder regularly finding the marauding Aurier on the right with some inch-perfect clipped passes.

Showed a 2-0 win over Lyon in Montreal that champions Ligue 1 was not completely lost the momentum it had accumulated by the end of last season during the summer.