PARIS: Paris St-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe scored twice to help the Ligue 1 leaders beat Metz 3-1 at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday and close out the year on a high as they maintained their five-point advantage at the top of the table.

PSG, who sit top of the standings on 40 points from 17 games, are five points ahead of second-placed Nice and seven points above AS Monaco, in third.

An uneventful first half ended goalless and lacked quality chances for either side, although the Parisians avoided conceding an own goal when a header by defender Danilo Pereira bounced off the post.

Vitinha put the hosts in front early into the second half, scoring with his first touch, before Mbappe doubled the lead on the hour mark with a stunning shot from the edge of the box as the France forward celebrated his 25th birthday.

Metz captain Matthieu Udol pulled one back with a towering header following a corner, as the ball went in off the inside of the post, before Mbappe made it 3-1 profiting on a mistake from the visitors’ defence.

PSG next travel to Lens in Ligue 1 on Jan 14, after facing French Cup winners Toulouse in Trophee des Champions on Jan 3 and a cup fixture at sixth-tier side Revel four days later.

In Wednesday’s other fixtures, Nice earned a 2-0 win over seventh-placed Lens with two quickfire goals in the second half — including a penalty — from forward Terem Moffi to maintain the second spot.

Third-placed Monaco came from a goal down to seal a 2-1 win over lowly Toulouse, before they were down to 10 men six minutes into the second half when midfielder Aleksandr Golovin was sent off for a risky tackle. Wissam Ben Yedder scored both goals for Monaco.

Patrick Vieira’s Strasbourg ended Lille’s 10-match unbeaten run with a 2-1 home win, in a game where both sides scored an own goal each.

Lille slipped to fifth in the standings with 28 points. They were leapfrogged by Brest who moved up to fourth after a 4-0 trashing of lowly Lorient, with all goals scored by midfielder Kamory Doumbia inside the first half.

The 20-year-old Mali international became the second player to score four goals in the first half of a Ligue 1 match in the last 60 years, after Edinson Cavani achieved the feat in September 2016 with Paris against Caen.

Olympique de 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.

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 Foot.

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

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2023