Mbappe's birthday brace boosts PSG

PARIS — Kylian Mbappe marked his 25th birthday with a brace as Paris Saint-Germain beat Metz 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Wednesday to reach the halfway stage of the season five points clear at the top of the table.

PSG, who had been held 1-1 at Lille at the weekend, labored in the first half before Vitinha opened the scoring early in the second half by turning in a cross from Lee Kang-in.

Mbappe then took center stage by making it 2-0 with a superb strike from the edge of the area that went in off the underside of the crossbar.

Matthieu Udol pulled one back for the struggling visitor, but Mbappe pounced on a short back-pass to round the goalkeeper and make it 3-1 toward the end for his 18th league goal of the campaign.

His birthday was made even more memorable when his 16-year-old brother, Ethan, came on for his senior debut in stoppage time.

PSG ends the year with a comfortable five-point cushion over nearest challenger Nice, who defeated Lens 2-0 on Wednesday thanks to two late goals from Nigerian striker Terem Moffi.

Monaco is seven points behind the leaders in third place after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Toulouse.

Wissam Ben Yedder scored both Monaco goals as the principality side held on to take all three points despite having Aleksandr Golovin sent off early in the second half.

Mali international Kamory Doumbia produced the individual performance of the evening by scoring four goals, all in the first half, as Brest beat Brittany rival Lorient 4-0.

That result lifted Brest up into fourth, a Champions League qualifying berth, above a Lille side who was beaten 2-1 away at Patrick Vieira's Strasbourg.

Marseille is sixth after coming from behind to draw 1-1 at Montpellier, with Jordan Veretout scoring the visitor's goal in a game that was held up for five minutes in the second half after fireworks were set off at one end of the stadium.

Montpellier had a point deducted following an incident during its home match against Clermont earlier this season, when the away side's goalkeeper was hit by a firecracker thrown from the same stand.

"These guys are idiots, it's incredible," complained Montpellier coach Michel Der Zakarian on Wednesday.

"I don't understand it. You are supposed to come to the stadium to support your team, not to set off fireworks."

Japanese international Keito Nakamura got the only goal as Will Still's Reims defeated Le Havre 1-0, while Rennes struck twice late on to claim a 3-1 victory at bottom club Clermont.

Meanwhile, Lyon climbed out of the bottom three as it beat Nantes 1-0 thanks to an Alexandre Lacazette goal.

It was a third consecutive victory for a team who had previously won just once all season, and the result lifted it two points above Toulouse, who now occupies the relegation playoff position.

AFP