PSG thump Lorient 5-1 to restore 12-point lead over Marseille at top of Ligue 1

Kylian Mbappé and Neymar both bagged a brace as Paris Saint-German restored their 12-point lead over Marseille on Sunday night with a 5-1 victory over relegation-threatened Lorient.

Neymar scored Paris Saint-Germain's first and fifth goal during their 5-1 drubbing of Lorient. AP - Michel Euler

Neymar opened the scoring after 13 minutes following slick one-touch interplay between Lionel Messi and Mbappé.

🚨11ème passe décisive de Mbappé en Ligue 1 qui prend ainsi le meilleur au classement devant Messi pic.twitter.com/nmg9XDJ4IK

— Paris Stats Germain (@ParisStats) April 3, 2022

The strike was greeted with rapture from the fans at the Parc des Princes.

Three weeks ago during the Ligue 1 game against Bordeaux, home supporters jeered every time he or Messi touched the ball.

The South Americans had been deemed to have underperformed during the meltdown and elimination at Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League last-16.

But they were redeemed from the realm of the dead against a Lorient side who had taken 11 from a possible 45 points on their travels during the season.

Tricks

Messi was up to his tricky best on the right and Neymar probed provocatively on the left.

Mbappé looked to have killed off the game and the Ligue 1 title race in the 28th minute.

Collecting a pass from Idrissa Gana Gueye, the 23-year-old darted into the penalty area and swept the ball past the Lorient goalkeeper Matthieu Dreyer for his 16th top flight goal of the season.

But 12 minutes into the second-half, lax play between Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos from a goal kick allowed Terem Moffi to nip in and prod the ball past Gigi Donnarumma.

That created the jeopardy the match had lacked after the restart.

Hakimi atoned for his sins by setting up Mbappé to reimpose the two-goal advantage mid-way through the second-half.

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Six minutes later, Mbappé's speed and determination to chase and catch a ball heading for the touchline set up Messi for the fourth goal as the match veered from game on to game over in 16 minutes - about the same time it took Karim Benzema to rack up his hat trick in Madrid on 9 March.

Sergio Ramos's entry allowed elements of the the crowd to unleash their inner ingrate - not for his poorness of his performances but for the paucity of them.

The former Real Madrid skipper has spent the majority of his time recovering from a series of injuries since arriving on a free transfer in summer.

Some sections of the crowd applauded the Spaniard - seemingly heeding the appeals of PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino to back the players after the disappointment of that Champions League debacle.

Mbappé notched up his third assist of the night in stoppage-time when he played in Neymar who finished emphatically past Dreyer to ensure the faithful left on an upbeat note.

"I'm in good form at the moment," Mbappé told French broadcaster Prime Video.

"I'm playing in a good team and we're enjoying ourselves and I think the fans like what we're giving them too.

"We're happy with the result. We're a step closer to bringing a 10th title to the club."

After 30 games of the 2021/2022 season, PSG boast 68 points. Marseille - who won 4-2 at Saint-Etienne on Sunday afternoon - are second on 56 points. Rennes are third on 53 points.

"It was an important result," said Pochettino. "We've managed to keep our distance from our nearest rivals and all our forwards got on the scoresheet ... that's always a good thing."

PSG welcome Marseille in a fortnight to the Parc des Princes for what could be the coronation shindig for an eighth title in 10 years.

But after successive home games where animosity has spilled over, even a trophy party might not reduce the sourness oozing from the pores of thousands of fans.