PARIS – Goals by Neymar and Kylian Mbappe helped Paris St Germain stay top of the Ligue 1 standings with a 3-0 win at Toulouse on Wednesday.
Neymar and Mbappe scored either side of the interval as the French champions moved on to 13 points from five games, ahead of Olympique de Marseille and RC Lens on goal difference.
Third-placed Marseille beat Clermont 1-0 at home courtesy of a Pape Gueye goal while Lens played their usual attractive football to destroy visiting Lorient 5-2, Florian Sotoca scoring twice.
Olympique Lyonnais, who have a game in hand, are fourth on 10 points after beating promoted AJ Auxerre 2-1 at home.
In Toulouse, Lionel Messi came close in the 25th minute with a low shot from a Neymar pass inside the box, only for his attempt to be tipped away by Maxime Dupe.
Toulouse defended cleverly and threatened on the break while an inspired Dupe denied Messi and Kylian Mbappe on two occasions.
There was nothing he could do, however, in the 37th minute when Neymar collected a fine through ball from Messi and slotted the ball home to give PSG the lead.
The Brazilian’s seventh goal this season took his career tally to 109 with PSG, which lifted him up to fourth in the club’s list of top scorers alongside Pedro Miguel Pauleta.
Mbappe doubled the tally five minutes into the second half as he tapped in from Messi’s cut-back inside the box for his fifth league goal.
More superb goalkeeping by Dupe meant Toulouse were still in the game, but Juan Bernat’s stoppage-time goal from close range ended the hosts’ hopes of a comeback.
Neymar was replaced in the 68th minute as coach Christophe Galtier looked to rest the Brazil forward ahead of the trip to Nantes and next week’s Champions League opener against Juventus.
Elsewhere, Monaco suffered their second defeat when they lost 4-2 at home to Troyes, a result that left them 16th in the standings on five points.
Monaco, who have not won in three home games at the Louis II stadium this season, were down to 10 men after 44 minutes when Guillermo Maripan picked up a second yellow card.
