Football
Jonathan Johnson, PSG correspondent 6y

Thiago Motta red card made Angers result 'difficult' for PSG - Kevin Trapp

PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Kevin Trapp admitted Thiago Motta's early dismissal made it difficult for the club to seal Wednesday's 2-1 over Angers.

Motta, 35, saw red after just 16 minutes because of a malicious stamp on defender Romain Thomas, but Kylian Mbappe had already put Unai Emery's men in front with the first of his two goals by that point.

Speaking after the final whistle, Trapp, who largely enjoyed a rare midweek outing in Le Championnat, acknowledged that Motta put his other teammates in a position of great difficulty.

"It was very difficult to play with 10 men for 75 minutes," the Germany international told journalists. "Angers played well and tried to play good football and it was a very tough game for us, especially in the final stages.

"It was important to win because these are three more precious points in Ligue 1 and another home win."

As PSG opened a 17-point lead in Ligue 1, coach Emery was happy with another victory and felt that his players coped well with Motta's ejection from the field of play.

The Spaniard added that his team could have been more clinical in front of goal, but he was satisfied overall.

"We want to win Le Championnat and we took another step towards achieving that," Emery said. "Ligue 1 is very important because it shows the team's consistency over the course of the entire season.

"Maintaining this level of play, this rhythm, and winning at home against Angers is important. I think the team responded well and coped very well with the sending off of Thiago.

"We suffered a little in the final minutes, but I think we deserved to win, and we could even have scored more -- I am very happy with the way the team played today."

Next up for PSG are Nice away in the first early Sunday kick-off,  a scheduling move designed to capture the Chinese audience.

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