Icardi, Di Maria hand PSG victory on Neymar's latest return

Neymar made his second return from Paris Saint-Germain injury on Friday when Mauro Icardi's first-half goals and Angel Di Maria saw the Ligue 1 champions secure a 2-0 victory over Lille at the Parc des Princes.

With his 10th goal in the last nine games for PSG, the in-form Icardi opened the scoring from close range in the 17th minute, and Di Maria doubled their advantage just after the half-hour mark.

Thomas Tuchel's side was too strong for the team that finished runners-up behind them last season, despite not being close to their best.

PSG are 11 points clear of second-placed Marseille, who is playing on Sunday after just 14 games.

Since October 5, Neymar had not played for his club, suffering a hamstring injury playing against Nigeria for Brazil a week later.

It was just the first spell on the sidelines for the most expensive player in the world, who has played in just under half of PSG games since Barcelona signed in 2017.

His decision to fly to Madrid for this week's Davis Cup tennis did not go well with Tuchel, but Neymar was still given a start here by the German coach.

Neymar lasted 65 minutes on his sixth appearance of the campaign before being replaced by Kylian Mbappe, who had been struggling with disease in recent days.

"Because he's been out for six weeks, I didn't expect too much from him. He lost consistency and his normal sense of timing, but that's how it is," Neymar's Tuchel said.

The Brazilian only produced brief glimpses of his class and, after being taken off, headed straight to the dressing room, some supporters jeering the 27-year-old as he left.

"It's normal, that's what many players do," Tuchel insisted, rejecting any controversy.

"Others go to the bench, however I didn't see it because I focused on making improvements on the pitch. There's no need to do a big thing about it." Nevertheless, the main reason for Neymar's omission was to keep him fresh for next Tuesday's visit to Real Madrid where he hopes to make his first Champions League game this season.

When the sides last met in April, Lille had beaten PSG 5-1, but since March they came here on a run of just one win in nine and without a victory away.

Because of the suspension, they were without their top scorer, Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, and coach Christophe Galtier was left reeling when two of his assistants— the Portuguese duo Joao Sacramento and Nuno Santos— left 48 hours before the game to team up at Tottenham Hotspur with Jose Mourinho.

We were still almost taking a second-minute lead by Xeka, but Keylor Navas stopped the effort of the midfielder.

Instead, it was PSG that went ahead from their first chance, converting Icardi to the far post after Jose Fonte had failed to cut off the low center of Idrissa Gueye.

Mike Maignan saved well from Gueye before another Argentine team scored again in the 31st minute by the home side.

Both Di Maria and Icardi played in the last game of PSG, a 2-1 victory in Brest, and both were new here for their friendly matches against Brazil and Uruguay not being included in the Argentina team.

Nonetheless, in shape they certainly deserve to play for their country.

Julian Draxler's pass was controlled by Di Maria and Maignan beat to make it 2-0. That was the end of the scoring, though Draxler and Edinson Cavani's substitute both squandered excellent second-half chances.

"They haven't played for Argentina and that was good for us because it meant that we could manage their workload and keep them fresh," Tuchel said of his two goal scorers.

"I'm glad that they've got their goals and worked hard for the team."