Double from Lionel Messi, penalty from Kylian Mbappé: PSG had fun in Montpellier (0-4)

The party turned into a demonstration. Montpellier celebrated 10 years of its title of champion of France but it is the PSG which largely imposed itself during the 37th day of Ligue 1, Saturday (0-4). In good form, Lionel Messi quickly offered himself a double, Angel Di Maria also scored in the first period and Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty, on the hour mark, in addition to his two assists for La Pulga. Enough to consolidate his status as top scorer and passer in the championship.

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Aligned in 5-4-1 but seriously diminished by the absences of Savanier, Wahi, Cabella, or Sakho, the Héraultais made a mistake in their strategy and quickly appeared overwhelmed. They wanted to play high enough and were punished on the first against Paris. If Bertaud diverted a strike from Messi which went into his right corner (6th), he bowed to the next corner. Served by Mbappé in the middle of the area, Messi placed his low recovery in the back of the net (0-1, 6th).

Mbappé still untenable

Neymar was suspended but Messi, lined up in false nine, and Mbappé showed their qualities from start to finish. Launched by the Argentinian, the French stumbled on Bertaud (10th). The duo returned to the charge and, with an outside right foot on the left, the ex-Monegasque served the former Barcelonan at the penalty spot for a dribble on the goalkeeper before pushing the ball into the cage (0 -2, 20th). Messi now has 6 goals in L1 this season while Mbappé has 17 assists.

Holder in the Parisian cage, Donnarumma was first shown to be quite feverish on a kick-start that Mavividi was unable to punish (16th) then on a poorly negotiated exit (19th). The Italian goalkeeper did well because Montpellier clearly lacked offensive power. Quite the opposite of PSG which took off on a resumption of the left in the race of the stirring Di Maria at the far post after a cross from Mbappé from the left and extended from the head by Chotard (0-3, 26th). In fine form lately, the ex-Mancunian scored his 4th goal in L1 in 2021-2022, the first since November 28.

A bit of game time for young Parisians

Thanks to its fiery attack, PSG continued to fly over the debates but Mbappé’s shot from 20 meters crashed on the crossbar (34th). Ramos’ attempts did not worry Bertaud (36th and 44th). On resumption, the MHSC also lost Mavididi to injury (48th). Souquet, he suffered constantly against Mbappé and ended up conceding a penalty that the Parisian striker transformed for a 25th goal in the league this season (0-4, 60th). The incoming Germain and Gioacchini gave more work to the Parisian defense without however alerting Donnarumma because Kehrer nicely countered the second named (65th). Mollet, for his part, had found the outside of the post on a center shot from the right (64th).

Pochettino was able to launch Simons and Michut instead of the discreet Herrera and Wijnaldum (69th). PSG finished the match without forcing and Gassama was also able to make his debut in the elite (90th). Montpellier remained combative but did not manage to save the honor in front of their 2012 champions, against those of 2022. Despite some throwing of projectiles and smoke bombs in addition to this heavy setback, the public of La Mosson had the right to a fireworks display for the latter at home. Still 13th in the standings, Montpellier chained an 8th game without success while PSG returned to victory after 3 draws on this penultimate day.