Kylian Mbappe fires Paris St Germain to win over Strasbourg

By Sports Desk October 21, 2023

Kylian Mbappe scored one and created another as Paris St Germain brushed aside Strasbourg 3-0 at the Parc des Princes.

The France forward got his side up and running with an early penalty before his trickery set up the second goal for Carlos Soler just after the half-hour mark.

Another Spaniard, Fabian Ruiz, added a third late on for Luis Enrique’s side, who made it back-to-back wins in the league for only the second time this season.

Mbappe went into the game on the back of three goals in two games for France in victories over the Netherlands and Scotland during the recent international break, but without a Ligue 1 goal since mid-September, a brace in a home defeat to Nice.

That mini drought was ended after only 10 minutes.

Gerzino Nyamsi made a mess of attempting to clear a low cross, allowing Goncalo Ramos a sniff, and in attempting to make amends the Strasbourg defender only succeeded in bringing down his opponent.

Mbappe made no mistake with the resulting penalty, firing right-footed into the bottom left corner.

Despite that run of three league games without a goal, it was his eighth in eight this season.

The visitors thought they were level just two minutes later when Lebo Mothiba headed home at the back post, but the effort was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.

Instead PSG went into half-time with a two-goal lead.

Mbappe received the ball, fooled Lucas Perrin with a dummy and sent in a low cross which Soler turned into the roof of the net at the near post.

Mbappe went close again himself early in the second half, bringing a save out of goalkeeper Matz Sels with a shot from inside the area before sparking a some concern when he went down holding his left ankle following a foul by Nyamsi.

However, he was able to carry on after treatment.

Strasbourg nearly gave themselves a lifeline in the 75th minute when Nyamsi met Dilane Bakwa’s cross, but his header was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

And their faint hopes were extinguished for good as PSG added a third in the 77th minute.

Ruiz won possession in the Strasbourg half and sent the ball out to Ousmane Dembele, who found Soler. He passed to Ruiz, who beat an opponent before firing home to wrap up the points.

Related items

  • Cabal becomes second Juventus defender to suffer ACL injury Cabal becomes second Juventus defender to suffer ACL injury

    Juventus' Juan Cabal will undergo surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, intensifying the Serie A giants' defensive injury crisis.

    The 23-year-old was forced to return to Turin after injuring his knee during training with the Colombia national team ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Ecuador.

    Cabal is the second Juventus defender to suffer an ACL injury this season after Gleison Bremer, who hurt his left knee during their 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig last month.

    Cabal has so far made nine appearances across all competitions this season.

    Juventus are sixth in the Serie A standings and 11th in the Champions League's new-look league phase.

  • Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big

    Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.

    Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.

    Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.

    Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.

    The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.

    Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.

    The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.

    She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.

    Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.

  • Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win

    Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.

    City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.

    “Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game

    “I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.

    “[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.

    “At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.

    “I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”

    The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.

    Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.

    “We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.

    “It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.

    “Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”

     

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.