PARIS, (Reuters) – World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe scored four goals in 14 second-half minutes to lead Paris St Germain to a 5-0 win over Olympique Lyonnais yesterday as they became the first team in Ligue 1 history to win their first nine games.
PSG, who were flattered by the scoreline, took their goal tally to 32 as they moved eight points clear at the top after a bruising match where both teams finished the first half with 10 men.
Lyonnais, who had to substitute two players before halftime because of injury, more than held their own for the first hour and hit the post with the score at 1-0. Brazilian Neymar converted a penalty to give PSG a ninth-minute lead but the game took a dramatic turn when the hosts had Presnel Kimpembe sent off in the 32nd minute for a dangerous studs-up tackle on Tanguy Ndombele.
The referee initially gave a yellow card but changed it to red after a VAR review.
The numbers were evened up in first-half stoppage time after Lucas Tousart was given a second yellow card for tripping Mbappe and was sent off for the second game in a row.
Lyonnais nearly snatched an equaliser in extraordinary circumstances after halftime when PSG defender Thiago Silva fired a clearance straight at Maxwell Cornet and the ball came off him and struck the foot of the post.
Mbappe, who until then had been anonymous, also hit the post from the next move and shortly afterwards the floodgates opened.
The 19-year-old extended PSG’s lead in the 61st minute with a shot which went in off both posts and then tapped in a short pass from Marquinhos after Lyonnais failed to clear the ball.
He completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute after Neymar sent him clear of the defence and he ran on to finish emphatically.
Five minutes later, he drilled home the ball after it ricocheted around the Lyonnais penalty area.
AS Monaco’s dismal season continued with a 2-1 home defeat by Rennes, leaving last season’s runners-up 18th in the 20-team table with six points.
Damien Da Silva took advantage of poor defending to give Rennes a 14th-minute lead and Monaco had Andrea Raggi sent off at the end of the first half for aiming a punch at Clement Grenier at a corner.
Radamel Falcao levelled four minutes after the restart but Hatem Ben Arfa’s long-range drive sealed Monaco’s fate 13 minutes from time.
Nantes’s new coach Vahid Halilhodzic had an awful debut at Bordeaux as his side conceded twice in the first eight minutes on the way to a 3-0 defeat. The 66-year-old former Japan and Algeria coach replaced Miguel Cardoso on Tuesday.
Olympique Marseille moved up to third (16 points) by beating Caen 2-0 with first-half goals from Kostas Mitroglou and Florian Thauvin.
