A double by the Spanish Ander Herrera and the contribution of Kylian Mbappe was enough for Paris Saint Germain who thrashed the recently promoted Clermont (4-0) in the Parc des Princes, in division of opinions before the reunion with the French star.
There were whistles and applause in similar proportion for Mbappe who was reunited with his fans after what happened in the final stretch of the transfer market. The Parisian went to his thing and intervened in three of the four goals for Mauricio Pochettino’s team that did not have Leo Messi, Neymar, Leandro Paredes and Ángel di María, newcomers from their international matches with Argentina and Brazil.
It was not necessary. Between the opportunism of Ander Herrera and the determination of Mbappe, the clash was unbalanced smoothly. Clermont, recently promoted to Ligue 1, suffered their first defeat of the season. Herrera’s goals put the clash on track after half an hour. In the 20th minute he opened the scoring with a great action from Achraf on the right. His center was intercepted by the goalkeeper who left the ball dead at the penalty spot where the Spaniard appeared to score.
Similar was the second, ten later. Mbappe faced his marker. He overtook him and moved into the small area. Ander Herrera broke in from the second line again but did not miss. The Spanish midfielder has accumulated three goals and two assists in four games this season. After the break the local superiority grew in the Park of the Princes.
A great pass into space from German Julian Draxler left Mbappe with the field ahead. He dodged goalkeeper Arthur Desmas and took the ball into the net. The fourth was from Senegalese Idrissa Gueye who headed a ball from Mbappe’s boots when he faced Desmas again.
Pochettino moved the bench. He took Mbappe ten from the end to give entry to Mauro Icardi who was not part of the starting eleven despite the numerous casualties in the attack. Draxler and Rafinha completed the offensive starting hat-trick.
The victory against Clermont prolongs the plenary session of Paris Saint Germain that has won the five games it has played and next Wednesday visits Bruges for their debut in the Champions League.
EFE
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