Five-star PSG blow Auxerre away

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Five-star PSG blow Auxerre away
Updated
Five-star PSG blow Auxerre away
Five-star PSG blow Auxerre away
AFP
Paris Saint-Germain extended their unbeaten record against promoted sides in Ligue 1 to 31 games with a 5-0 whitewash of AJ Auxerre. They remain unbeaten at home in 2022, with just one more fixture remaining at the Parc des Princes this year.

A first H2H clash since the Couple de France final in 2015 saw PSG go all out against the visitors in a bid to maintain their five-point gap at the summit going into the FIFA World Cup break. The hosts stormed to a lead within the first quarter-hour from Kylian Mbappé’s contentious goal, as he banged the ball into the roof of the net, but not before Neymar seemed to have handled the ball accidentally in the box which VAR ignored following a lengthy review.

The goal meant that Auxerre would hold their record as being the only top-flight side yet to score first on the road this season. M’Baye Niang then forced Gianluigi Donnarumma into a point-blank save with a thunderous effort, before the away side fell back onto the backfoot once again. Lionel Messi almost made it 2-0 for the Parisians right before HT from close range, sending his shot wide of the left post after wrong footing the entire defence.

Christophe Galtier’s outfit restarted proceedings on a high note, doubling their lead from Carlos Soler’s header into the bottom right corner following an inch-perfect pass by Nuno Mendes. Achraf Hakimi all but ended Auxerre’s hopes of a comeback with a third on the brink of the hour mark, slotting a marksman’s finish into the bottom right corner, and leaving Benoît Costil no chance of saving it. PSG then scored two more in the space of five minutes. They got their first via Renato Sanches’ shot into the top corner on the back of a defensive mishap, before Hugo Ekitiké capitalised on yet another mistake by the Auxerre defence and banged home the fifth.

With PSG in cruise control, Galtier withdrew Messi and Neymar, keeping in mind their injury history and with the World Cup on the horizon.

"I was probably the most concerned. That's why I wanted to relieve Ney and Leo," PSG boss Christophe Galtier told Prime Video.

"Kylian stayed on the pitch but he's 23. Ney had also stopped in mid-week during a (training) session and Leo was coming back from a calf strain."

Christophe Pélissier tastes his first defeat in three matches as Auxerre’s new coach, as the Burgundy outfit lag in 15th position in the league going into the break for the FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the capital outfit extend their current unbeaten home league run to 29 matches – the best streak in the top five European leagues.

"The afternoon was perfect. I can't even say 'almost perfect', it was perfect,"  Galtier said.

"We only conceded one chance, we played a serious match. Everyone wanted to play this match, no one was particularly worried about the World Cup."

Flashscore Man of the Match: Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain)

See all the match stats at Flashscore

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