Mbappe and Messi on song as PSG ease past lowly Ajaccio
Even without the suspended Neymar, many expected PSG to have more than enough firepower to make light work of Ajaccio, who showed early promise of their own with Youcef Belaïli looking bright in his first start for L’ours.
Still, Messi looked set to open the scoring when his free-kick took a wicked deflection off Bevic Moussiti-Oko until Benjamin Leroy did superbly to readjust and keep it out.
Despite being the league’s lowest-scoring side, the hosts threatened again when Vincent Marchetti fired over the crossbar from Belaili’s cutback.
Having looked frustrated at points, PSG sparked into life in the 24th minute when Messi slipped the ball through for Mbappe to clinically open the scoring with a first-time finish.
Les Parisiens hadn’t scored twice or more in any of their previous four matches and should have ended that run before the break, but Mbappe skied his effort from just a few yards from goal, before Mohamed Youssouf slid in brilliantly to deny Messi and Fabian Ruiz’s effort curled agonisingly wide.
PSG immediately showed their intent after the restart with Messi pulling the strings as Juan Bernat and Renato Sanches both got into threatening positions before being halted by Leroy.
Despite often struggling to maintain any meaningful possession, L’ours refused to fade with Belaili testing Gianluigi Donnarumma from range.
However, after a delay due to an incident in the stands, Messi and Mbappe linked up beautifully again before the Argentine evaded Leroy to convert into the empty net.
The two teamed up again just four minutes later, as Mbappe got the brace needed to become the league’s standalone top scorer while adding some extra gloss to the scoreline as PSG earned back-to-back victories.
Meanwhile, Ajaccio suffered their fifth consecutive home defeat to extend the longest run in their history, although they can at least take some positives from their performance.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lionel Messi (PSG)
