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Kylian Mbappe grabbed a hat-trick as Paris St Germain moved top of Ligue 1 with a 3-0 victory at Marshall Munetsi’s fourth-placed Reims on Saturday.
Champions PSG top the standings with 27 points, one ahead of Nice who played out a goalless draw at Montpellier on Friday.
Mbappe scored after three minutes, receiving a cross unmarked at the back post and calmly slotting a low volley into the bottom corner of the net.
Munetsi lasted the entire 90 minutes.
Reims thought they had equalised minutes later when Junya Ito converted a cross, but the offside flag was up.
Mbappe doubled the advantage for the visitors in the 59th minute, eluding his marker to tap in a low cross at the far post.
Eight minutes from time, the 24-year-old France forward notched his third with a first-time shot from inside the area.
PSG manager Luis Enrique believed Mbappe could have done even better.
“Kylian was the best in terms of goals. But I think there’s still room for improvement, and we can still ask a lot more of our best players,” he said.
Reims enjoyed good spells of possession and made chances but were unable to beat PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The Italian keeper thwarted Amir Richardson from close range and saved Joseph Okumu’s header shortly after the break.
“I’m very happy. It was a very difficult match,” Luis Enrique said.
“Gigio (Donnarumma) saved us several times, but I think we deserved to win. We suffered, but we were alert and we defended well when we needed to.” – Reuters/Sports Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu
Mathew Masinge