Neymar Jr. was missing for Paris Saint-Germain against Dijon FCO on Saturday, while Kylian Mbappé - perhaps unexpectedly - scored a brace. But coach Mauricio Pochettino singled his fringe players out for praise amid an ongoing injury crisis.
Neymar has been out for a few weeks, but he was joined on the sidelines on Saturday by injured first-teamers Mauro Icardi and Alessandro Florenzi, while Leandro Paredes was suspended for the trip to the Stade Gaston Gérard.
Pochettino therefore had to play a significantly rotated side, some of whom shone. Abdou Diallo assisted Moise Kean for the opener, Rafinha' provided a beautifully weighted assist for Mbappé, while Julian Draxler might have had a brace in the 4-0 win if not for the offside flag, the Germany midfielder instead having to settle for a cross for Danilo Pereira to complete the scoring late on.
Kean is the only one of that collection to make PSG's average starting XI this season, but that could change.
"I think it was a very professional performance in the squad's approach to the game," he said. "We expect that in every single game and every training session from our players. I think that with the very difficult circumstances the team put in a good performance and we were very solid.
"I'm happy because that's what we expect from the players and maybe some of them haven't played too much but they showed their quality and put the coaching staff in a difficult position to pick the starting XI for the next game."
That next fixture rolls around as soon as Wednesday, when Paris travel to the Matmut Atlantique to take on Girondins de Bordeaux.
