Kylian Mbappe continued his fine form in front of goal as Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain defeated Nantes 3-0 on Saturday evening.
Ligue 1
Result: Nantes 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain
Date: 03 September 2022
Venue: Stade de la Beaujoire
Mbappe dominated headlines this week after surprise revelations made by Paul Pogba's brother, who claims the Juventus star put a curse on the PSG forward.
PSG coach Christopher Galtier made four changes from the midweek win, as Achraf Hakimi, Juan Bernat, Prensel Kimpembe and Pablo Sarabia all started, while Neymar was named on the bench.
The game's first opening fell to the home side on 10 minutes as Mostafa Mohamed did well to hold off Marquinhos before playing Samuel Moutoussamy, who sent a first-time effort over the crossbar.
The reigning champions went close four minutes later as Messi sent Kylian Mbappe on his way but the French forward saw his strike palmed away by Nantes shot-stopper Alban Lafont.
Mbappe got his reward in the 18th minute as he collected a pass from Messi before finding the back of the net with a lovely finish for his fifth goal of the campaign.
It went from bad to worse for Nantes, who were reduced to 10 men on 24 minutes when Fabio was shown a straight red card for a studs up challenge on Vitinha.
That was also the end of Vitinha's evening, as the Portuguese midfielder was unable to continue and had to be replaced by countryman Renato Sanches.
Galtier's carried that first-half momentum into the second half, with Mbappe bagging his and PSG's second goal on 54 minutes with a simple finish from close range from Marco Verratti's cross.
That proved to the final involvement for both Mbappe and Verratti, as they made way for Neymar and Sergio Ramos for the final 25 minutes of the second half.
PSG still managed to add to their tally in the 68th minute when Neymar's effort crashed against the upright and fell into the path of Nuno Mendes, who fired into the top corner.
Messi almost added his name to the score-sheet in the final six minutes after being played in by Neymar, but the Argentine was denied by Lafont in a one-on-one situation.
Three goals were enough to get the job done on the night, as PSG now turn their attention to Tuesday's UEFA Champions League opener against Juventus.
Here is where Mbappe ranks among the 10 highest-paid players at PSG:
