Cavani hat trick sinks Monaco

paris — Thierry Henry’s disastrous start as coach of Monaco continued on Sunday as Edinson Cavani’s VAR-assisted hat trick helped Paris Saint-Germain to an easy 4-0 win in the principality that saw them extend their perfect record in Ligue 1 this season.

Neymar netted a penalty to complete PSG’s victory, as they made it 13 wins from 13 league games under Thomas Tuchel, further stretching their start to the season that is a record in France and in Europe’s so-called big five leagues.

The result for them came after a week marred by revelations from French investigative website Mediapart that youth scouts at PSG had subjected potential signings to racial profiling over several years. But while they go 13 points clear of second-placed Lille at the Ligue 1 summit, the club who have been their main challengers in recent seasons continued their deeply worrying slump, with Henry again left to look on helplessly from the touchline.

Champions in 2017, Monaco are in the relegation zone and five points away from outright safety having failed to win in six matches in all competitions since the Arsenal and France great took charge. They have now gone 16 games without a win altogether, with this result following a 4-0 home reverse against Club Brugge which knocked them out of the Champions League.

Monaco are on their worst run in France’s top flight in 32 years, at a time when Football Leaks claims about their Financial Fair Play breaches and the arrest of their Russian billionaire owner Dmitry Rybolovlev on corruption charges have cast a further shadow over the club. “We are playing for survival, nothing else,” said Henry.