French league leader Paris Saint-Germain crumbled under pressure to lose 3-1 at Lens for its first defeat of the season on Sunday as second-placed Lens cut the gap to four points and maintained its perfect home record.

PSG’s weakness against the counterattack was ruthlessly exposed by Lens. The northern side scored at the start of each half and dominated the midfield battle against a rattled PSG to make it nine straight home victories for coach Franck Haise’s side.

Frustrated PSG coach Christophe Galtier was alarmed by the performance, saying his players did not stick to the game plan.

PSG was without Neymar, through suspension, and World Cup winner Messi, who is returning to training after an extended stay back home in Argentina.

“They are two great players who make the difference but that is not an excuse,” PSG captain Marquinhos said. “We lacked cohesion, efficiency and intensity.”

PSG star Kylian Mbappé was kept quiet, with the league’s 13-goal top scorer mustering only a speculative shot in the 60th