PARIS:
Paris Saint-Germain demolished Marseille in Ligue 1 on Sunday with summer signing Goncalo Ramos scoring twice in a 4-0 victory for the reigning champions, but Kylian Mbappe came off injured in the first half.
Mbappe appeared to hurt his ankle in winning the free-kick which saw Achraf Hakimi put PSG ahead in the eighth minute at the Parc des Princes.
The France superstar was eventually replaced just after the half-hour mark, but the home side went on to double their lead before the breakthrough Randal Kolo Muani.
Ramos then headed in the home side’s third goal just after half-time and completed the rout late on as PSG followed up their 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek.
The win leaves Luis Enrique’s team in fourth place after six games, two points behind surprise leaders Brest, who beat Lyon 1-0 on Saturday.
Luis Enrique suggested after the game the injury suffered by his top scorer Mbappe was nothing serious.
“I think it was a knock. He tried to change the strapping on it and continue but the pain wouldn’t go away,” the coach said.
“I don’t think it is anything serious and I suppose he will be back soon but it is better not to take risks when a player is not 100 percent.”
The former Barcelona and Spain boss added: “I think this was without doubt the most complete performance in my time here and luckily for us it came against our biggest rivals.”
Marseille had started the day unbeaten and were above PSG in the table, but they were outclassed here at the end of a turbulent week.
Their coach Marcelino Garcia Toral resigned on Wednesday after only seven games at the helm and following an angry meeting between club officials and fan representatives.
Marseille president Pablo Longoria and several senior colleagues opted not to travel to Amsterdam for Thursday’s 3-3 draw with Ajax in the Europa League amid doubt as to whether they would carry on.
However, Longoria has since decided to stay and was in Paris for Sunday’s game in which former player Jacques Abardonado took interim charge of the team.
“We showed a total lack of character and if you do that against some of the best players in Europe that is what happens,” Abardonado admitted.
As well as Longoria, also in attendance in the French capital was Selena Gomez, who may have been hoping to see Mbappe play a more prominent role than he ultimately did.
The forward had scored eight goals in five games this season before Sunday, when he appeared to turn his left ankle in an early tangle of legs with Leonardo Balerdi just outside the Marseille box.
A foul was given and Hakimi scored with a stunning strike from the resulting free-kick as he continued his fine start to the campaign.
Clearly in some discomfort, Mbappe twice came off for treatment before eventually giving up in the 31st minute to be replaced by Ramos.
Marseille might have equalised midway through the first half but Vitinha headed an inviting cross by Jonathan Clauss off the bar and over.
Instead PSG scored again on 37 minutes when a long-range Hakimi shot took a deflection and hit the post before ricocheting off goalkeeper Pau Lopez and falling for Kolo Muani to score.
It was his first goal since signing for his hometown team from Eintracht Frankfurt on transfer deadline day at the beginning of the month.
Portugal forward Ramos then joined in after the break, scoring his first two goals since signing from Benfica.
Ramos arrived at the near post to head in Ousmane Dembele’s right-wing cross just over a minute into the second half.
And he netted again with a minute left, finishing off Kolo Muani’s low centre at the end of a counter-attack.
Earlier on Sunday, Morgan Guilavogui scored a late winner as last season’s runners-up Lens came from behind to beat Toulouse 2-1 and claim their first victory of this campaign.
Nice are second, a point behind Brest, after winning 1-0 away to Cote d’Azur rivals Monaco on Friday.
