With Lionel Messi and Neymar resting after their recent stay in South America with their national teams, Paris Saint-Germain complied without major problems to beat recently promoted Clermont 4-0 at home, with a double from Ander Herrera, on matchday 5 of the Ligue one.
No one can stop the great favorite for the title for now, who commands the classification with a full 15 points, after winning the five games he has played.
It increases to 7 points its advantage over Clermont, one of the revelations of the start of the season in France and which is third (8 points) while waiting for the rest of the games of the weekend. The second, Angers (10 points), are five points behind PSG and need to win on Sunday in Brest (18th) to keep up with the capital team.
Messi, who arrived like a king in Paris in August after closing a lifetime at FC Barcelona, the club where he trained and where he lived his great moments of glory, had made his debut as a PSG player playing for half an hour in the 2-0 victory in Reims on August 29, just before the international match break.
This match against Clermont was initially presented as the one destined to be his grand premiere at the Parc des Princes, but his arrival from South America gave him a break and the club’s fans will have to keep waiting to see him in action at the Estadio del Oeste. from Paris, where Messi followed the performance of his teammates from the stands.
In the absence of Messi and Neymar on the pitch, the man in charge of putting the game on track was a man much less used to attracting the spotlight, the Spaniard Ander Herrera, who scored the first two goals for his team.
The Basque player opened the header at 20 and expanded his team’s account at 31, shooting the net after a cross from Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé himself was the author of the third, in 55, after receiving from Julian Draxler, dribbling the visiting goalkeeper and scoring at will.
The fourth and final was signed by Idrissa Gueye (65), with a header taking advantage of a rebound, after a great play by Mbappé.
In the scorers’ table, Mbappé, after overcoming weeks of rumors about an eventual departure to Real Madrid and recovering from recent discomfort in a calf, is the solo leader with a total of 5 goals. AFP (HN)