THE MATCH

Lille, who had beaten PSG last weekend, had pulled six points clear of Mauricio Pochettino's men with a battling 2-0 triumph at Metz barely 24 hours earlier; on the other side of the Alsace-Lorraine derby divide, PSG were ruthlessly clinical as they kept up the pressure on the side ahead of them.

The game was all over in the opening 45 minutes as PSG — and Mbappé in particular — maintained the momentum built by their midweek UEFA Champions League victory at Bayern Munich and warmed up for Tuesday's quarter-final second leg in the best possible way.

Strasbourg — victors over Bordeaux last weekend to ease their relegation worries — might have taken the lead but Adrien Thomasson's rising shot smacked off a post (9'), and it only served to wake the visitors.

Lamine Koné had already had to muscle Mbappé away from a Pablo Sarabia cross (10') when the Strasbourg centre-back was faced with the France international forward on the left side of the penalty area. Mbappé's outrageous acceleration allowed him to blow past Koné before firing low through the legs of Matz Sels for a superb 21st Ligue 1 Uber Eats goal of the season (16').

Sarabia quickly doubled their lead, taking a smooth first touch to manoeuvre Danilo Pereira's pass around Stefan Mitrovic and firing across Sels (27') before Mbappé teed up Moise Kean for PSG's third with the last kick of the opening half (45').

Habib Diallo had headed a good opportunity wide (30') and it was only after the Senegal international was replaced on 62 minutes that Strasbourg got a foothold in the game. Teenager Moise Sahi had been on the pitch barely 60 seconds when his first-time finish to Jean-Ricner Bellegarde's cross was too good for Sergio Rico, who had replaced Keylor Navas at the interval (63').

The teenager — Strasbourg's youngest top-flight goalscorer at 19 years, 111 days since Kevin Gameiro found the net as an 18-year-old in February 2006 — may have opened his account, but it was the only bright point for Thierry Laurey's men who needed Sels to keep out Mbappé (69') before PSG put the game to bed.

Leandro Paredes lined up a free-kick 25 metres from goal, and duly bent home a delightful first league goal of the campaign (79') to keep PSG hot on the heels of Lille and move four points clear of third-placed Monaco, who play bottom side Dijon on Sunday.

THE PLAYER: Kylian Mbappé

He produced a stunning display against Bayern, and the PSG superstar carried that form into the game at Strasbourg. It bodes well for PSG's European campaign and their title challenge.

THE STAT: 19

Mbappé scored and assisted a goal in the same Ligue 1 game for the 19th time since joining PSG in summer 2017. Only Barcelona's Lionel Messi (21) has achieved the feat more times in that period.

>> NEWS: Navas 'I'm so happy at PSG'

In Saturday's evening kick-off, Gaëtan Laborde scored in added time as Montpellier denied Marseille all three points in a six-goal thriller.

Andy Delort had given the hosts a first-minute lead, but Arkadiusz Milik (43') and Pape Gueye (45+2') struck in quick succession just before the break to put OM in the driving seat. Laborde levelled soon after the restart with his first of the game (47') and when Duje Caleta-Car was sent off (62'), Jorge Sampaoli's men looked destined to have to hang on for a point. Instead, Lucas Perrin struck shortly after coming on for the visitors and goalkeeper Steve Mandanda made a number of saves, notably from Téji Savanier, who also struck the woodwork late on, as Marseille looked as if they would snatch it. But Montpellier kept seeking a leveller, and it eventually came through Laborde with just seconds remaining as OM missed out on the chance to move into fifth place.