Birthday boy Mbappe stars in PSG victory
paris — Kylian Mbappe celebrated his 19th birthday on Wednesday with a goal and an assist as Paris Saint-Germain cruised to a 3-1 victory over Caen in Ligue 1.
The French teenager has enjoyed a stratospheric rise in 2017 and rounded out a memorable year in style by setting up Edinson Cavani to fire PSG ahead on 21 minutes, before adding a goal of his own on the hour.
Spanish left-back Yuri Berchiche netted his first goal for the club since arriving from Real Sociedad as PSG strolled to a 10th straight home league win despite conceding a late Ivan Santini penalty.
Unai Emery’s team head into the winter break nine points clear of defending champions Monaco and Lyon, with both of those sides claiming 2-1 wins over Rennes and Toulouse respectively.
“It’s a good win to finish with 50 points, but the goal we conceded is something we want to work on after the holidays,” Emery said.
“I think the team has had a very good first half of the season,” he added. “We’ve accomplished our goals of being first in our Champions League group and being top of the league with a sizeable cushion.” Marseille responded to losing their 12-match unbeaten run at the weekend by coming from a goal behind to defeat Troyes 3-1 at the Velodrome to stay within three points of the Champions League spots.
PSG captain Thiago Silva returned from injury at the Parc des Princes to solidify a defence without the suspended Dani Alves and Presnel Kimpembe, while Neymar shrugged off a bout of illness that forced him to miss training on Tuesday. —