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PSG suffer first home league defeat in almost two years

Football Soccer - Paris St Germain v Monaco - French Ligue 1 - Parc des Princes stadium, Paris, France - 20/03/2016. Monaco's Fabinho argues with referee Antony Gautier (L) as Paris St Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (R) looks on. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

PARIS (Reuters) - Newly-crowned champions Paris St Germain suffered their first Ligue 1 home loss in almost two years and second defeat of the season with a 2-0 reverse to second-placed AS Monaco on Sunday.

PSG, who clinched a fourth consecutive league title last weekend, succombed to second-half goals by Vagner Love and Fabinho as they slumped to their first league defeat at the Parc des Princes since losing 2-1 to Stade Rennes on May 7, 2014.

The capital club, hoping to break their record of 89 points in a season, have 77 points with seven matches left, while Monaco are on 55 points and lead Nice, who beat GFC Ajaccio 3-0, by five points and fourth-placed Olympique Lyonnais by six.

Lyon won 2-0 against visiting Nantes on Saturday.

PSG's defeat means Nantes remain the only side to have lost one game in a single French top-flight season back in 1994/95.

They remain on course for a quadruple, however, after reaching the French Cup semi-finals, League Cup final and Champions League quarter-finals.

Laurent Blanc's side dominated the first half but Monaco's steely defence held firm and the visitors looked much sharper after the break.

In the 65th minute, Love latched on to a fine cross from the left by Thomas Lemar to open the scoring. Three minutes later, Fabinho wrapped up the points with a penalty after David Luiz brought down his fellow Brazilian in the box.

Ligue 1 top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic came close to reducing the arrears but his header shaved the crossbar and the Swede then fired a sitter over the bar.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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