Paris St Germain players and officials observe a minute of silence to pay tribute to victims of last Friday’s Paris attacks, before their French Ligue 1 match against Lorient at the Moustoir stadium in Lorient. (Reuters)

AFP/Paris

Reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain stretched their lead in Ligue 1 to 13 points yesterday after claiming a 2-1 victory away to Lorient with security tight after the attacks in Paris.
Playing for the first time since the attacks, the capital club extended their winning run to eight matches through first-half goals from Hervin Ongenda and Blaise Matuidi at the Stade du Moustoir.  Benjamin Moukandjo netted his league-best 10th goal to set up a nervy finish but Lorient ultimately suffered their first defeat in six outings.
Tightened security checks were in place in Brittany, much like the rest of the country, just eight days after terrorist attacks in Paris and by the Stade de France left 130 people dead and more than 350 injured.
As on Friday prior to Nice’s 3-0 victory over Lyon, France’s national anthem, ‘La Marseillaise’, rang out around the ground before a minute’s silence was observed in memory of the victims.
Eleven doves of peace were released into the sky ahead of kick-off, while PSG players wore shirts adorned with the words “Je suis Paris” (I am Paris) below the club crest.  PSG coach Laurent Blanc had admitted it would not be easy for his team to focus on football following last week’s atrocities but said none of his players had asked him to be left out of yesterday’s squad.
However, the league leaders were without Javier Pastore, Marco Verratti, Angel Di Maria and Ezequiel Lavezzi due to injury while David Luiz was rested to protect his knee from Lorient’s artificial surface.
PSG had won on each of their last four visits to Lorient and duly grabbed a 26th-minute lead through academy product Ongenda who poked home Gregory van der Wiel’s cross for his first goal in the French top flight.
Ongenda had a hand in the visitors’ second goal six minutes later, releasing Zlatan Ibrahimovic with the Swede then squaring for Matuidi to guide past Lorient goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte from close range.
Sylvain Ripoll’s hosts had lost just once since August and nearly find a way back into the contest when Raphael Guerreiro sent an effort just wide of Kevin Trapp’s right-hand post early into the second half.  Lorient did eventually pull one back on 82 minutes as Cameroon striker Moukandjo, who now has five goals in his last three matches, headed in substitute Romain Philippoteaux’s cross but it served as nothing more than a consolation.
Nice climbed to third on Friday Valere Germain and Vincent Koziello struck either side of a Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa own-goal to move them to within a point of second-placed Lyon.
Monaco host Nantes later on while the Corsica derby between Bastia and Gazelac Ajaccio has been rescheduled for today due to strong winds. Marseille travel to Saint-Etienne for today’s late kick-off with fourth-placed Caen at home to fifth-placed Angers.