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Kylian Mbappe scored and scored unharmed alongside Paris Saint-Germain stars Lionel Messi and Neymar in their final pre-match game. Globalism Cup, a 5-0 Ligue 1 defeat by Auxerre on Sunday.
The news was not good for Morocco’s World Cup hopes as Marseille striker Amine Harit was sidelined after sustaining a knee injury in his side’s 3-2 victory over Monaco in the evening’s last Ligue 1 match before half-time.
Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier chose not to rest his attacking trio against the Burgundy side as the French champions looked to extend their lead at the top of the table ahead of the tournament break in Qatar.
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“None of my players sent me the signal of fear,” Galtier said.
“My obsession was that my team could express themselves as freely as possible without developing injury psychosis.
The players responded present, they were serious and focused.
“It would have been a great sadness for me if one of my players had been injured before the World Cup, and I quickly made the changes to spare all of them.”
Mbappe scored the first goal after 11 minutes in Paris, to score his twelfth goal in the league this season, after good work by Messi and other players heading to the World Cup, Moroccan Ashraf Hakimi and Portuguese Nuno Mendes.
Spaniard Carlos Soler shook his head in the second after 51 minutes, then Hakimi sent in for the third six minutes later. Two non-Qatar players, Renato Sanchez and Hugo Iketiki, came off the bench and added goals in the last 10 minutes.
The Parisians are five points ahead of Lens, who won 2-1 at home to Clermont on Saturday, with Rennes a further five points behind in third.
Galtier added: “We are first and unbeaten, we worked on different systems and it took a long time to find the best solution so that the great trio could express themselves and find the best balance.
“There are still many lines of work. The only regret I have is that I didn’t beat Benfica in the Champions League.”
Paris Saint-Germain tied twice with Benfica in its Champions League group and qualified in second place behind the Portuguese club.
In their final match before the World Cup, the MNM trio – Messi, Neymar and Mbappe – did not shine in a match without great intensity.
That didn’t stop the champions from showing off their goalscoring prowess before the interval until their next Ligue 1 match on December 28 against Strasbourg.
It seems that Mbappe’s early goal, after a beautiful cross from Messi, which was transferred by Mendes, numbed the Parisian striker.
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– Kimpembe returns –
Messi hit the post after 66 minutes, Neymar collapsed at the slightest contact and played in slow motion, far from the brilliance of the early part of the season.
“I don’t know if my players are afraid of injuring the Parisians before the World Cup,” said Auxerre coach Christophe Pelissier.
“Out of the five goals we gave them, three were our mistakes.”
Galtier gave some playing time to France defender Presnel Kempembe, who came on in the last quarter of the hour after spending a month with an Achilles injury.
And in Monaco, Harit was carried off on a stretcher after injuring his knee in the 58th minute.
Marseille coach Igor Theodore said, “From what we know, it’s a big injury. He got injured just before the World Cup, we talked about it all week. I’m very sad.”
Harriet’s veteran substitute Dimitri Payet played a crucial role as Marseille trailed 2-1. Bosnian defender Said Kolasinac headed in a free kick from Payet eight minutes into injury time.
The victory lifted Marseille to fourth place, while Monaco remained sixth, one point behind Lille, who beat bottom club Angers 1-0.
Also bottom, Brest beat Troyes 2-1 while Nantes came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home against Ajaccio.
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