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Mbappe scores birthday brace as PSG end year on top of Ligue 1

Kylian Mbappe marked his 25th birthday with a brace as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) beat Metz 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Wednesday to reach the halfway stage of the season five points clear at the top of the table.

PSG, who had been held 1-1 at Lille at the weekend, laboured in the first half before Vitinha opened the scoring early in the second half by turning in a cross from Lee Kang-in.

Mbappe then took centre stage by extending the lead for PSG to 2-0 with a superb strike off the underside of the crossbar from the edge of the area.

Matthieu Udol pulled one back for the struggling visitors but Mbappe pounced on a short backpass to round the goalkeeper and make it 3-1 towards the end for his 18th league goal of the campaign.

His birthday was made even more memorable when his 16-year-old brother Ethan came on for his senior debut in stoppage time.

PSG ended the year with a comfortable five-point cushion over nearest challengers Nice, who defeated Lens 2-0 on Wednesday thanks to two late goals from Nigerian striker Terem Moffi.

Monaco are seven points behind the leaders in third place after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Toulouse, with Wissam Ben Yedder scoring both of their goals.

The principality side held on to take all three points despite having Aleksandr Golovin sent off early in the second half.

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Malian international Kamory Doumbia produced the individual performance of the evening by scoring four goals, all in the first half, as Brest beat Brittany rivals Lorient 4-0.

That result lifted Brest up into fourth, a Champions League qualifying berth, above a Lille side who were beaten 2-1 away at Patrick Vieira’s Strasbourg.

Marseille are sixth after coming from behind to draw 1-1 at Montpellier, with Jordan Veretout scoring their goal in a game that was held up for five minutes in the second half after fireworks were set off at one end of the stadium.

Montpellier had a point deducted following an incident in their home match against Clermont earlier this season when the away side’s goalkeeper was hit by a firecracker thrown from the same stand.

“These guys are idiots, it’s incredible,” complained Montpellier coach Michel Der Zakarian on Wednesday.

“I don’t understand it. You are supposed to come to the stadium to support your team, not to set off fireworks.”

Japanese international Keito Nakamura got the only goal as Will Still’s Reims defeated Le Havre 1-0, while Rennes struck twice late on to claim a 3-1 victory at bottom club Clermont.

Meanwhile, Lyon climbed out of the bottom three as they beat Nantes 1-0 thanks to an Alexandre Lacazette goal.

It was a third consecutive victory for a team who had previously won just once all season, and the result lifted them two points above Toulouse, who now occupy the relegation play-off position.

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PSG outclass AC Milan to get back on track in Champions League

Kylian Mbappe, Randal Kolo Muani and Lee Kang-in were all on target as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) got back to winning ways in the Champions League with an impressive 3-0 home victory against AC Milan on Wednesday.

PSG were eager to bounce back from their 4-1 defeat away to Newcastle United three weeks ago and they ultimately had too much attacking quality for their Italian visitors at the Parc des Princes.

Mbappe opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark with his 10th club goal this season, and his France teammate Kolo Muani added another shortly after half-time.

Lee then came off the bench to net the third late on, the South Korean star’s first for the club.

PSG thoroughly deserved their win, with the Ligue 1 side a different proposition from the disjointed team that was overloaded with forwards and overrun in midfield against Newcastle.

“We are very proud of our performance,” Kolo Muani told broadcaster Canal Plus.

“Winning these games gives everyone confidence and we need to carry on this way.”

Having started their European campaign with a 2-0 home win against Borussia Dortmund, PSG top Group F with six points ahead of a trip to Milan next.

The seven-time European champions are bottom of the section with two points and a big concern for Stefano Pioli’s side will be that they have yet to score in the group.

“Obviously we are not in a good position,” Pioli admitted.

“I was hoping Newcastle wouldn’t beat Dortmund because that would help us but we can’t just hope for other results to go our way.”

This game saw French international brothers Lucas Hernandez, the PSG defender, and Theo, the Milan captain, come up against each other.

It also saw PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his Milan counterpart Mike Maignan face the clubs with whom they started their careers.

But the stars of the show were elsewhere, with Mbappe –- who was hugged by a pitch invader in the first half — looking arguably sharper than he has done at any point up to now this season for PSG.

Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery was exceptional in PSG’s midfield and his performance will not have gone unnoticed by France coach Didier Deschamps, who was watching from the stands.

“I am very pleased to be the man of the match, but it is a team effort first and foremost,” Zaire-Emery told Canal Plus.

“He does everything well, defensively and in attack. He is aggressive, good technically, has good vision, can score and set up goals,” said coach Luis Enrique.

“He is the perfect example for all young kids who want to be footballers and want to get to the highest level.”

Zaire-Emery made the opening goal in the 32nd minute when he collected possession in midfield, burst away from Tijjani Reijnders and found Mbappe, who advanced into the box before beating Maignan with an early, low shot into the corner.

That was a blow to Milan, who had started well and upset the Paris defence with their high pressing.

It was not just Zaire-Emery who impressed in the home midfield, with Vitinha continuing his fine form this season in a position close to Mbappe on the left.

Meanwhile Manuel Ugarte is the man who holds it all together, but his physical approach denied PSG a second goal three minutes after half-time.

Ousmane Dembele thought he had scored his first goal for the Qatar-owned club since signing from Barcelona in the close season, as he ran through to plant a low shot beyond Maignan.

However, Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic disallowed the goal following a VAR review for a foul by Ugarte on Yunus Musah in the build-up.

PSG didn’t have to wait long to make it 2-0 though, as Kolo Muani turned the ball into an empty net in the 53rd minute after Maignan had pushed out a Dembele shot.

Milan tried unsuccessfully to find a way back into the game, while Maignan intervened more than once to stop Mbappe from scoring again, notably touching a shot onto the outside of the post.

But the home side made it three in the 89th minute as Zaire-Emery powered down the right and set up Lee to score with a first-time strike.

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Mbappe scores twice as ruthless PSG hammer Lyon

Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 4-1 win away at Lyon on Sunday to leave their crisis-hit opponents bottom of Ligue 1.

Mbappe’s two goals in the first half sandwiched strikes by Achraf Hakimi and Marco Asensio as PSG produced a ruthless performance that augurs well for the rest of the season.

Corentin Tolisso pulled one back with a penalty for Lyon but the seven-time former French champions are enduring a miserable start to the campaign and are bottom with just one point from four games.

Laurent Blanc’s side prop up the division on goal difference behind last season’s runners-up Lens and Clermont.

PSG, meanwhile, are up to second, two points behind early league leaders Monaco, after a second straight win to follow draws in their opening two games.

“It is a great result. It is not easy to come and win here, regardless of what the opposition are going through,” said PSG captain Marquinhos.

“We are not yet playing exactly the way the coach wants us to but we are making great progress.

“He is very demanding, very hard with us. He has said there is still room for improvement.”

Luis Enrique’s team are building towards the start of their Champions League campaign which will see them come up against Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and Newcastle United in the group stage.

They still have Randal Kolo Muani to come into the team after the France striker joined from Eintracht Frankfurt in a reported 90 million-euro ($97m) deal just before the transfer window closed on Friday.

This game came too soon for Kolo Muani to make his debut, but there was a first appearance for Bradley Barcola after he joined from Lyon on Thursday for a fee that could reach 50 million euros.

Barcola came off the bench late on to a chorus of jeers and whistles from the home support, but the game was well and truly over by then.

PSG went ahead in the fourth minute as Mbappe netted a penalty after Manuel Ugarte’s pressing led to him being brought down in the box by Tolisso.

Hakimi made it 2-0 in 20 minutes, following in to score after Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes had turned a low Ousmane Dembele cross out into his path.

The visitors needed Gianluigi Donnarumma to make fine saves from Rayan Cherki and Tolisso, while in between that Hakimi hit the bar at the end of a lighting PSG counterattack.

They scored again on 38 minutes in clinical fashion, Ugarte releasing Asensio for the former Real Madrid man to score his second goal in as many games.

Asensio turned provider as PSG made it 4-0 in first-half stoppage time, sending Mbappe through to beat Lopes for his second of the night and his fifth in three games since returning to the team following a contract dispute.

The final score could have been embarrassing for Lyon but Dembele hit the bar with a header early in the second half and the hosts then won a penalty in the 73rd minute.

A lengthy VAR check deciphered a trip by Warren Zaire-Emery on Nicolas Tagliafico, and Tolisso tucked in the resulting spot-kick.

Yet Lyon’s dreadful start to the season on the pitch comes amid turbulence off it under new American owner John Textor, who was not able to make the summer signings he desired because of the club’s financial situation.

The team’s results pile pressure on coach Blanc, the former PSG boss who took over less than a year ago.

A banner unfurled by fans during the game called on him to resign.

“The supporters are entitled to be disappointed, with the team and the coach,” he told broadcaster Amazon Prime.

“But in our situation I don’t think there is only one person who is responsible. Everyone is responsible.”

Lyon are bottom after Clermont claimed their first point of the season earlier on Sunday, equalising late on to draw 2-2 at Toulouse.

There were also wins on Sunday for Le Havre, Lille and Nice.

Monaco went clear at the summit with a 3-0 win over Lens on Saturday.

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Kylian Mbappe future in major doubt after refusal to extend PSG contract

Kylian Mbappe told Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Monday that he would not be taking up an option to extend his contract until 2025, raising the spectre of him following Lionel Messi out of the club this summer.

The 24-year-old France striker’s current deal expires at the end of next season, with the option of another year.

If he does not sign, the French champions risk losing him for nothing in a year’s time — so they could now sell him this summer rather than miss out on a windfall for one of the world’s best players.

Kylian Mbappe’s decision not to renew, announced in a letter to the club and revealed by the French sports daily L’Equipe, is a fresh blow to PSG following the loss of Messi to Inter Miami.

There had been a deadline of July 31, 2023, for Mbappe to decide.

Mbappe’s move comes a little over a year since he snubbed Real Madrid by signing a surprise extension to his contract to remain at the Parc des Princes.

Real would again be chief among his suitors.

Kylian Mbappe’s entourage did not respond immediately when asked late Monday evening.

The striker’s departure for free at the end of his current contract, in the summer of 2024, would prove catastrophic for PSG.

In addition to the void left in the team, the club would also be deprived of the millions of euros a transfer would earn.

The future of Brazilian fellow star striker Neymar, under contract until 2025, also appears vague ahead of what is shaping up to be a summer of upheaval in the French capital.

Kylian Mbappe joined PSG on a season-long loan from Monaco in August 2017 that turned into a permanent deal worth 180 million euros ($194 million).

He helped France to World Cup glory as a teenager in 2018 and has established himself as arguably the leading forward on the global stage.

Kylian Mbappe also scored a hat-trick in France’s 2022 World Cup final defeat to Messi’s Argentina and helped Paris Saint-Germain win a record 11th French title.

But Mbappe hinted last month that he could leave in 2024.

“I said that next year I will play at PSG. I still have a year of contract so I will honour my contract,” he said when asked about his future at an awards ceremony where he was voted the Ligue 1 player of the season for the fourth successive time.

At Clairefontaine, where France are preparing for their next Euro qualifying matches, the striker appeared relaxed on Monday.

Smiling and joking with coach Didier Deschamps and fellow attacker Antoine Griezmann, he participated in afternoon training and signed dozens of autographs for spectators.

The announcement of Kylian Mbappe’s intentions to PSG are yet another annoyance for the club’s Qatari owners following a difficult season on and off the pitch, despite winning the French title.

After another failure in the Champions League, the club are working to find a successor to coach Christophe Galtier.

The season was widely seen as a disappointment after PSG were dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the last 16 and from the French Cup at the same stage.

As for Neymar, the Brazilian’s fitness has regularly been a concern for PSG, ever since he signed from Barcelona for a world-record fee of 222 million euros in 2017.

He has scored 118 goals in 173 games for PSG, but has missed more than 100 games due either to injury or suspension.

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