Paris St. Germain ran riot last night at the French capital city against Maccabi Haifa in their group fixture in the Champions League.
Lionel Messi scored 2 goals & assisted in 2 more as the Ligue 1 champions thrashed the Israeli side 7-2, marking the Argentine’s 50th appearance for the club.
Kylian Mbappe chipped in with his 2 goals as Neymar & new man Carlos Soler also got in on the act.
The visitors would be pleased to come away from this clash by being able to find the back of the net twice on the night with defender Abdoulaye Seck’s headers from set pieces.
PSG are top of their group and level on points alongside rivals Benfica, both of whom have secured their places in the Round of 16 after matchday 5.
The evening at Parc des Princes was full of goals and a beautiful display of football from one of the world’s most feared attacking trios – Messi, Neymar & Mbappe.
Recent rumors of unrest between Neymar and Mbappe were firmly put to rest by the dazzling chemistry showered on the pitch.
The camaraderie between the duo was especially magnified when the French attacker was fouled by Haifa’s goal scorer Seck in the 25th minute of the match.
A poor challenge from the Senegalese, while Mbappe was running towards the touchline with the ball, sent him crashing into the nearby advertising boards, earning the former a yellow card.
Neymar came to the aid of his teammate and made his feelings for Seck pretty clear. The Brazilian was incensed with the defender and managed to get himself written into the referee’s book with his reaction.
Despite the reported fractious relationship with Mbappe, Neymar defended the Frenchman on the field and will be final group match against Juventus.
After the much talked about “penalty-gate” incident between these two and Mbappe’s recent dissatisfaction with the club, a united front was put on show in front of the home crowd, complete with an absolutely dominating performance as a team.