Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain received 3-0 away at high-flying Reims on Saturday to maneuver to the highest of the Ligue 1 desk, though coach Luis Enrique was nonetheless not glad with the France captain’s efficiency.
Mbappe opened the scoring within the third minute in Champagne nation after which netted twice extra within the second half to offer PSG a win which moved the reigning champions to the summit a degree above Nice, who drew at Montpellier on Friday.
PSG had been additionally grateful to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma who denied Reims a route again into the sport with a string of very good saves, as Luis Enrique’s crew recovered from their midweek Champions League loss away to AC Milan.
Mbappe is Ligue 1’s main scorer with 13 targets in 11 appearances this season, with the France captain additionally having netted twice in European competitors.
Yet his coach was not completely delighted along with his celebrity’s show.
“We know Kylian Mbappe’s worth, but he can do better. I want even more from him,” the Spaniard stated.
“He is one of the world’s best players, but he still has a lot of room to get better. I don’t want him to rest on his laurels.”
Score targets and play effectively
Mbappe had earlier indicated that he was not fully happy along with his personal recreation as he spoke to broadcaster Amazon Prime.
“In all modesty I don’t need to be playing well to score goals, but I want to do both, score goals and play well. That is my objective, to always help the team as well as I can,” Mbappe stated.
Asked about bouncing again from the setback in Milan, Mbappe added: “It is a different competition and all we wanted to do was win. Nice drew and we wanted to take top spot. It’s job done and we are happy with that.
“We may have time to consider the Champions League however Ligue 1 is a special competitors and which means a special mindset and a special means of taking part in.”
New PSG boss Enrique vows to put youth and offence at centre of vision for glory
That 2-1 defeat in Milan on Tuesday left PSG’s hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout phase in the balance with two group games still to go, but they do finally appear to have found their rhythm domestically after a stuttering start to the campaign.
Luis Enrique’s team were targeting a fifth straight victory in Ligue 1 and they went ahead almost from the off as Mbappe met Ousmane Dembele’s cross from the right with a superb side-foot volley low across the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner of the net.
Reims were denied an equaliser as a fine goal by Japanese international Junya Ito was disallowed for offside, and the same player was later denied by Donnarumma who also produced a superb reaction save from Amir Richardson before the interval.
Donnarumma on a roll
A PSG side missing the suspended Achraf Hakimi and Randal Kolo Muani were again grateful to Donnarumma when the Italian repelled a Marshall Munetsi header on 56 minutes, and three minutes later they went 2-0 up.
Mbappe evaded his marker with a brilliant darting run to the back post where he converted a perfect assist rolled across the face of goal by Carlos Soler.
Donnarumma was at it again as he once more denied Zimbabwe midfielder Munetsi, before Mbappe finished off a cutback from substitute Bradley Barcola to make it 3-0 with eight minutes left.
Nice are still unbeaten this season after their stalemate on Friday in Montpellier, and they have still not been behind in a single game this season.
Reims remain in fourth place, while third-placed Monaco missed the chance to leapfrog Nice in the table as they drew 0-0 away to Le Havre in Saturday’s late match.
Monaco were fortunate to escape with a point, however, as Le Havre’s Samuel Grandsir had a penalty saved in the 10th minute of added time at the end of the game.
(with AFP)
Originally published on RFI