French giants Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) survived a scare in Ligue 1 on Friday before beating Brest 4-2 and extending its winning start in the French league to three games.
Fans will have to wait some more for the much-anticipated debut of Lionel Messi as the team played without him and Neymar.
Substitute Angel Di Maria sealed the victory on a counterattack in injury time just when it looked like Brest might score an equalizer to claim a point against the star-studded visitors.
Though Neymar and Messi were not ready for the game, the PSG starting lineup still had the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Achraf Hakimi, and Netherlands midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
Ander Herrera opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Brest's defense could only half-clear Mbappé's cross. Herrera returned the ball from the edge of the penalty area with a volley that flew in off the left post.
Mbappe capitalized on some more poor defending to head the visitors' second goal in the 36th.
But Franck Honorat pulled one back for Brest in the 42nd after Romain Faivre found him in space with his heel, and the home team pushed for an equalizer in the second half.
Brest forward Irvin Cardona should have scored shortly before Idrissa Gueye got the visitors' third goal with a long-range effort inside the left post in the 72nd.
Steve Mounié set up a frenetic finale with Brest's second goal in the 85th. Di Maria quashed the home fans' hopes of a surprise result with his late goal.
Messi missed a month of training after leading Argentina to the Copa America title on July 10.
Source: opoyi.com