PARIS: Ousmane Dembele scored his second hat-trick of the week and Goncalo Ramos scored a late brace in Paris St-Germain’s 5-2 win at Brest on Saturday as the champions remain unbeaten at the top of Ligue 1.

PSG’s 15th win of the campaign moved them to 50 points from 20 matches, 13 above second-placed Olympique de Marseille who have a game in hand. Eighth-placed Brest remained on 28 points.

Dembele, who struck three times in Champions League on Wednesday, opened the scoring from a Bradley Barcola pass before the half-hour mark.

Romain Del Castillo equalised for Brest briefly but Dembele stepped up to restore PSG’s lead seven minutes later. Shortly after Dembele had his third as he scored from a Lee Kang-In assist.

Ludovic Ajorque clawed one goal back to reduce the deficit. However, Ramos, came off the bench to score two late goals in the 89th minute and 96th minute to seal a convincing win for the leaders.

Meanwhile, third-placed AS Monaco moved level on points with Marseille as Mika Biereth scored a quick-fire hat-trick in their 4-2 home win against Auxerre.

Thilo Kehrer gave the home side the lead in the principality, only for Sinaly Diomande to equalise before a Jubal penalty gave Auxerre the lead in first-half stoppage time.

However, Danish striker Biereth, a January signing from Austrian champions Sturm Graz, scored three goals in the space of nine second-half minutes to give Monaco the victory.

Lille are fourth, two points further back, after following a 6-1 win against Feyenoord in the Champions League in midweek to beat struggling Saint-Etienne 4-1.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2025