Lionel Messi scored as Paris St Germain stretched their Ligue 1 lead to five points with a 3-1 win at Montpellier after Kylian Mbappe limped off the pitch on Wednesday. Mbappe, who also missed a penalty, held his left thigh as he was replaced after 20 minutes, but coach Christophe Galtier said France forward had damaged his knee.
Lionel Messi scored as Paris St Germain stretched Ligue 1 lead
Following a lackluster first half PSG burst into life after the break with Fabian Ruiz, Messi, and Warren Zaire-Emery finding the net to put them on 51 points from 21 games. Mbappe had a night to forget at La Mosson, having had his spot-kick parried away by Benjamin Lecomte in the eighth minute. He had to take it again, only for the Montpellier keeper to deny him again.
“It’s a knock on the knee and it hurts behind the thigh,” Galtier said, not looking too worried two weeks before his team take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League last-16 first leg.
The win for PSG came after a frustrating end to the January transfer window on Tuesday as they failed to process the paperwork to complete the loan signing of Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea after the Moroccan winger had passed a medical. Earlier, Gaetan Laborde scored the only goal of the game for Nice as Lens dropped points at home for the first time this season after winning all 10 previous matches there.
