Lionel Messi scored his first goal in the French league and Kylian Mbappe scored the fastest goal of his career when Paris Saint-Germain beat Nantes 3-1 on Saturday.
Messi sealed PSG’s 87th-minute win after a pass from Mbappe at the end of a counterattack. The Argentine star quickly moved to the edge of the box after receiving the ball, dribbled past a defender and steered one of his typical left-hand shots past Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont.
Messi, who arrived from Barcelona this summer, had already scored three Champions League goals for his new team but had not made it into the net in five previous Ligue 1 games.
The win extended PSG’s lead over runner-up Lens to 13 points as the nine-time champions held their unbeaten home record this season. Lens is on duty in Brest on Sunday.
PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino started ahead of a trip to Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday with the trio of attacking stars Mbappe, Messi and Neymar.
PSG got off to a perfect start as it took the home side less than two minutes to take the lead and Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the season.
The home side made the most of a poor game by the Nantes defenders when Leandro Paredes fired a 25-meter half volley that Mbappe deflected past Lafont. According to Optas statistics, it was PSG’s fastest league goal since May 2017 and Mbappe’s fastest goal in his professional career.
PSG dominated the game, monopolizing possession and almost doubling their lead on 18 minutes, but Lafont’s steady hand blocked Messi’s shot at Neymar’s cross.
The Nantes goalkeeper was instrumental in blocking a Mbappe low shot minutes later, then stopped a fine Neymar shot just before half an hour. Another great save by the 22-year-old goalkeeper frustrated Messi in the 38th round after playing a one-two with Marco Verratti and breaking through the Nantes defense only to save his left-footed shot.
After the break, the game was more even as Nantes played more aggressively. PSG were reduced to 10 men in the 65th after goalkeeper Keylor Navas received a red card for an awkward foul outside the box on Ludovic Blas, who ran alone on goal.
Nantes pushed hard for the equalizer and was eventually rewarded for his efforts when Randal Kolo Muani struck the offside trap and leveled the goal in 76th place. The striker first saw his header denied by Nava’s substitute Sergio Rico, but he followed up his attempt with a clever ball contact that crossed the goal line.
Unfortunate for Nantes when Dennis Appiah loaded his own goal when he tried to intercept a low pass from Messi and instead steered the ball into the net before Messi opened his French league account.
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