Mbappé and Messi combine as leader PSG wins 3-0 at Marseille

PARIS: Kylian Mbappé scored twice and Lionel Messi got the other goal as the World Cup final stars combined to give French league leader Paris Saint-Germain a 3-0 win at title challenger Marseille. Mbappé tops the league’s scoring charts outright with 17 goals, and he matched Edinson Cavani’s PSG club-record tally of 200 in the process on Sunday. What better place to do it than at bitter rival Marseille, where PSG lost in the French Cup earlier this month without the injured Mbappé in the team? This time, PSG was without the injured Neymar but didn’t miss the Brazil star.

A win would have moved second-place Marseille within two points of defending champion PSG. Instead, Marseille trails by eight points with only 13 rounds remaining. “Everyone put in the right effort,” PSG coach Christophe Galtier said.

Galtier is from Marseille and played for the club as a gritty defender, which means some Marseille fans are simply unable to understand why he is coaching PSG. Galtier had to be restrained after the final whistle as he went over to confront an irate Marseille fan leaning over and heckling him near the dugout. Mbappé became only the second player to score a hat trick in a World Cup final when France lost on penalty kicks to Argentina last December, with an inspirational Messi netting twice in a thrilling final.

This time they combined on each other’s goals to quieten a Stade Velodrome crowd full of belief after the recent cup win against a PSG side reeling from five defeats in its 12 previous games. But after Nuno Tavares missed a great chance for Marseille, an exquisite pass from Messi near the halfway line sent Mbappé sprinting through for a typically clinical finish in the 25th minute. “He’s a player from another