PARIS: A bizarre foul committed by the referee overshadowed Paris St Germain’s 1-0 win on Sunday at Nantes which moved the leaders 11 points clear at the top of Ligue 1.

In a highly unusual end to the game, referee Tony Chapron sent off Nantes center half Diego Carlos in the last minute although the official was the culprit.

“It’s a joke ... Honestly, the whole of Europe is laughing here,” Nantes president Waldemar Kita said after the game. “The player is on the receiving end and it’s him who gets a [red] card. There’s a problem here.”

Carlos was running behind Chapron near the halfway line and trying to catch up with play when he inadvertently clipped the referee’s heels as their paths crossed.

Chapron tumbled forward onto the turf and then, in what appeared to be a blatant act of retribution, swiped his right leg at Carlos.

An irate Chapron got up and brandished a second yellow card for Carlos, and looked flustered as he fumbled in his shirt pocket for the red.

“I know it’s a difficult job to referee, but they must also have to ask questions of themselves,” Nantes midfielder Valentin Rongier said on Canal Plus television. “If we do that, it goes before a [disciplinary] commission and we get 10 games [suspension].”

There is little suspense in the league with PSG dropping only seven points from a possible 60. Defending champions Monaco are in second place, level on points with Olympique Lyonnais, but neither seemingly has the caliber to pressure PSG by going on a lengthy winning run.

Even without playing their usual scintillating football, PSG were able to scrape past a lacklustre Nantes side coached by Claudio Ranieri.

He guided Leicester City to the 2015-16 English Premier League title in one of the biggest upsets in football history, but Nantes remain in fifth on 33 points and do not seem to have enough flair to go higher.

Angel Di Maria scored the only goal as PSG’s march towards a fifth Ligue 1 title in six years continued.

The Argentine winger poked in a 12th-minute opener for the visitors, before producing a glaring miss later in the first half.

Emiliano Sala thought he had headed in an equaliser for Nantes, but was incorrectly denied by the linesman’s flag.

“We did not even score the goal to get a draw, but here there is no video, like in Italy,” bemoaned Ranieri. “Sala comes from behind and the goal was valid. But that’s football.”

Earlier on Sunday, Lyon failed to take second spot after being held to a 1-1 home draw by Angers, despite a goal from Nabil Fekir.

Monaco’s goalless draw at Montpellier on Saturday handed Lyon the chance to leapfrog the principality club.

Karl Toko Ekambi gave the lowly visitors a shock 14-minute lead from the penalty spot, but the in-form Fekir dragged the hosts level shortly after half-time with his 14th league goal of the season.

“We’re very disappointed, we had a bad start to the match and a difficult first half,” said Fekir.

St Etienne ended a 10-match winless streak with a 2-0 win over Toulouse thanks to goals from Robert Beric and Assane Diousse.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2018