PARIS: World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe scored four goals in 14 second-half minutes, earned a penalty and also hit the post in a memorable performance for Paris St Germain in a 5-0 thrashing of Olympique Lyonnais at the Parc des Princes on Sunday as they became the first team in Ligue 1 history to win their first nine games.

Thomas Tuchel’s Ligue 1 leaders broke the 82-year-old record of eight consecutive wins set by Olympique Lillois in 1936, having equalled the mark with their 3-0 victory at Nice last weekend and took their goal tally to 32 as they moved eight points clear at the top after a bruising match where both teams finished the first half with 10 men.

“Fantastic, incredible. It was super hard in the first half, it was a crazy match,” PSG coach Tuchel told Canal.

Lyon endured the worst possible start to the match, as star man Nabil Fekir was forced off injured in the seventh minute, and the hosts were awarded a spot-kick just seconds later.

Mbappe raced to reach a loose ball, and visiting goalkeeper Anthony Lopes needlessly charged off his line to bring down the teenager. Neymar stepped up and sent Lopes the wrong way with a stuttering run-up to score his 11th goal of the season.

The game took a dramatic turn when the hosts had Presnel Kimpembe sent off in the 32nd minute for a dangerous studs-up tackle on Tanguy Ndombele. The referee initially gave a yellow card but changed it to red after a VAR review.

The numbers were evened up in first-half stoppage time after Lucas Tousart was given a second yellow card for tripping Mbappe and was sent off for the second game in a row.

Mbappe, who until then had been anonymous, hit the post shortly after the break and shortly afterwards the floodgates opened.

The 19-year-old extended PSG’s lead in the 61st minute with a shot which went in off both posts and then tapped in a short pass from Marquinhos after Lyon failed to clear the ball.

He completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute after Neymar sent him clear of the defence and he ran on to finish emphatically.

Five minutes later, he drilled home the ball after it ricocheted around the Lyon penalty area.

AS Monaco’s dismal season continued with a 2-1 home defeat by Rennes, leaving last season’s runners-up 18th in the 20-team table with six points.

Damien Da Silva took advantage of poor defending to give Rennes a 14th-minute lead and Monaco had Andrea Raggi sent off at the end of the first half for aiming a punch at Clement Grenier at a corner.

Radamel Falcao levelled four minutes after the restart but Hatem Ben Arfa’s long-range drive sealed Monaco’s fate 13 minutes from time.

Olympique Marseille moved up to third on 16 points, three behind second-placed Lille, by beating Caen 2-0 with first-half goals from Kostas Mitroglou and Florian Thauvin.

Elsewher Vahid Halilh­odzic saw his Nantes side beaten 3-0 at Bordeaux on his return to French football with a brace from Francois Kamano and another goal from Yann Karamoh. The 66-year-old former Japan and Algeria coach replaced Miguel Cardoso on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2018