PSG cruise at Toulouse

Paris St Germain responded to the arrival of David Beckham with a comfortable 4-0 win at Toulouse.

Paris St Germain responded to the much-publicised arrival of David Beckham with a comfortable win at Toulouse to strengthen their position at the top of the Ligue 1 table. The former England captain signed for the Parisian club until the end of the season but ruled himself out of this fixture because of a lack of match fitness, having not played since December. However, his new team-mates proved they could do it without him and were already leading through goals from Javier Pastore and Zlatan Ibrahimovic when Toulouse were reduced to 10 men with the dismissal of Cheikh M'Bengue. It was one-way traffic from that point onwards, and further goals from Mamadou Sakho and Gregory van der Wiel secured a seventh win in eight matches to lift PSG three points clear at the top. It was the second meeting in nine days between the two clubs, with PSG recently recording a 3-1 win in the Coupe de France. And they were in front tonight after just four minutes, with Pastore connecting with a flick on from Ezequiel Lavezzi before firing home a low volley. Toulouse goalkeeper Ali Ahamada soon found himself under further pressure, making three saves in succession to keep out shots from Lucas Moura, but the visitors were two goals ahead after 36 minutes. Lucas was the creator, whipping in a cross for Sweden international Ibrahimovic who powered in a header from 10 yards out. Things went from bad to worse for Toulouse three minutes later when M'Bengue was shown his second yellow card of the match for a poor challenge on Lucas, having earlier been booked for a similarly clumsy tackle on the Brazilian forward. And there was no way back for the home side as PSG set about building a commanding score. Ahamada managed to prevent Ibrahimovic scoring again after 58 minutes with a superb diving save before making another good stop to once more deny Lucas and his attempted lob. Serge Aurier then cleared a close-range effort from Ibrahimovic off the line as Toulouse clung on, but the match was finally put beyond them with two goals in as many minutes soon after. Sakho made it 3-0 after 70 minutes with a headed finish to a cross from Lucas and Van Der Wiel rounded things off, latching on to a tidy pass from Ibrahimovic before hitting an accurate low drive.