PARIS: Kylian Mbappe scored and came through unscathed along with fellow Paris St Germain stars Lionel Messi and Neymar in their final match before the World Cup, a 5-0 Ligue 1 rout of Auxerre on Sunday.

PSG coach Christophe Galtier opted not to rest the attacking trio against the Burgundy side as the French champions sought to extend their lead at the top of the table before the break for the tournament in Qatar.

“None of my players had sent me a signal of fear,” said Galtier. “My obsession was that my team could express themselves as freely as possible without the psychosis of an injury. The players responded present, were serious, focussed. It would have been a great sadness for me if one of my players were injured before the World Cup and I quickly made the changes to spare each of them.”

Mbappe scored the opener after 11 minutes in Paris for his 12th league goal this season after good work by Messi and two other World Cup bound players Moroccan Achraf Hakimi and Portuguese Nuno Mendes.

Spain’s Carlos Soler nodded in the second after 51 minutes and then set up Hakimi for the third six minutes later. Two players who are not going to Qatar, Renato Sanches and Hugo Ekitike came off the bench and added goals in the final ten minutes.

PSG lead the standings on 41 points from 15 games ahead of RC Lens on 36 with Stade Rennais a further five points adrift.

Lens came from behind to beat Clermont 2-1 on Saturday while Rennes extended their unbeaten run to 17 games with a 2-1 win over Toulouse.

Elsewhere on Sunday, seventh-placed Lille moved closer to the European places with a 1-0 win over Angers. In the relegation fight, Brest beat Troyes 2-1 as Nantes came from two goals down for a 2-2 draw at home against Ajaccio.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2022