Mbappe stars as leaders Monaco crush Metz 5-0
Teenage striker Kylian Mbappe scored a superb hat-trick as Monaco hammered Metz 5-0 on Saturday to remain three points clear of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain at the top of Ligue 1. The highly-rated 18-year-old struck with just eight minutes gone at the Stade Louis II before Radamel Falcao netted his 15th league goal of the season three minutes later.
Mbappe’s blistering pace and steely composure saw him add a third as Monaco threatened a repeat of their 7-0 rout from the reverse fixture in October. Mbappe completed his treble five minutes into the second half and Falcao rounded out a thumping win as Monaco issued a powerful response to Paris Saint-Germain in the wake of their 3-0 success at Bordeaux on Friday. Monaco head to Bastia next weekend before travelling to Manchester City for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash on February 21. “The best preparation for Manchester City is to win matches,” said Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim.
“I think we did well in the first half and created lots of chances. In the second half, we looked after the players a bit more.” But Monaco suffered a potential blow with Jardim suggesting Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Boschilia could miss the rest of the season with suspected knee ligament damage.
Lyon slumped to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Guingamp despite France striker Alexander Lacazette netting his 20th league goal of the campaign. Lacazette curled in a superb 10thminute opener at the Stade du Roudourou as Lyon sought to build momentum on the back of Wednesday’s 4-0 rout of Nancy. But the visitors were blindsided by two goals in the space of four minutes as Moustapha Diallo levelled on the half-hour mark before Nicolas Benezet’s glancing header snapped Guingamp’s six-game winless run.
‘DOUBT’ HURTING LYON
Lyon received a hostile welcome from sections of their own fans at Parc OL in midweek following last Sunday’s loss at bitter Rhone rivals Saint-Etienne and their latest setback adds to the enveloping gloom. Bruno Genesio’s side are 12 points adrift of the Champions League places after losing four of their last six matches and travel to Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of the Europa League last 32 on Thursday. “It’s symptomatic of teams that are suffering from doubt: they had two big chances and scored twice,” Lyon right-back Christophe Jallet told Canal+ Sport. “We’re all doing everything to get going again in the right direction, to move towards, but we haven’t been rewarded and we can’t say we didn’t try everything to get back into the match.”
He added: “It’s true we’ve lost far too many matches this season to compete for the top three.” Dijon claimed a vital 2-0 home win over Caen amid heavy snowfall in eastern France, while Angers picked up three crucial points with a 2-1 victory at Lille. Toulouse thrashed nineman Bastia 4-1 and Montpellier inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Nancy.
On Friday, Edinson Cavani scored twice-taking his tally this term to 25 — with Angel Di Maria also on target as PSG warmed up for Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Barcelona in reassuring fashion. Nice are three points behind in third but will be without Mario Balotelli for Sunday’s trip to Rennes with the Italian striker unwell.
All matches in France’s top flight this weekend will feature a minute’s silence prior to kick-off to honour the 17 people killed in a stadium stampede in Angola. Friday’s crush also left 56 people injured and government officials have launched an investigation into the tragedy. —AFP