PARIS: Goals by Neymar and Kylian Mbappe helped Paris St Germain stay top of the Ligue 1 standings with a 3-0 victory at Toulouse on Wednesday.

Christophe Galtier’s reigning champions were never seriously threatened by their newly-promoted opponents and Neymar and Mbappe scored either side of the interval as the French champions moved on to 13 points from five games, ahead of Olympique de Marseille and RC Lens on goal difference.

The fearsome front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Mbappe have now scored 18 times between them already this term.

“MMN? We can only be satisfied with their performances,” said PSG coach Galtier.

Toulouse frustrated PSG early in the game, with goalkeeper Maxime Dupe making two smart stops from Mbappe and tipping a Messi shot wide.

But the away side did take the lead in the 37th minute, as Neymar raced onto Messi’s through ball and slotted into the bottom corner.

Mbappe doubled the tally five minutes into the second half as he tapped in from Messi’s cut-back inside the box for his fifth league goal.

More superb goalkeeping by Dupe meant Toulouse were still in the game, but Juan Bernat’s stoppage-time goal from close range ended the hosts’ hopes of a comeback.

Third-placed Marseille beat Clermont 1-0 at home courtesy of a Pape Gueye goal while Lens played their usual attractive football to destroy visiting Lorient 5-2, Florian Sotoca scoring twice while Wesley Said, Salis Abdul Samed and Lois Openda also found the net.

Olympique Lyonnais, who have a game in hand, are fourth on 10 points after beating promoted AJ Auxerre 2-1 at home as Karl Toko Ekambi assisted Tete’s opener before volleying in his side’s second goal.

Nice finally claimed their first victory of the campaign as Nicolas Pepe scored a match-winning penalty on his second appearance since joining on loan from Arsenal.

Earlier, Monaco suffered their second defeat when they lost 4-2 at home to Troyes, a result that left them 16th in the standings on five points.

Monaco, who have not won in three home games at the Louis II stadium this season, were down to 10 men after 44 minutes when Guillermo Maripan picked up a second yellow card.

Elsewhere, 10-man Reims claimed a 4-2 victory at Angers as on-loan Arsenal forward Folarin Balogun scored his fourth goal of the season from the penalty spot.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2022