April 10, (THEWILL) – Paris Saint-Germain extended their advantage at the top of Ligue 1 to 15 points after a simple win over Clermont Foot on the road on Saturday night.
PSG ran up the score in the second half after Clermont had threatened to make things uncomfortable for Les Parisiens. But, it finished with double hattricks for PSG forwards Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
When Messi put in Neymar, who had been on fire against Lorient a week previously, it took only a few minutes for the Brazilian to break the tie in favour of the visitors from the capital.
The Argentine, who had narrowly missed a clear chance earlier, turned provider once again when he received Neymar’s cross on his chest and blasted the ball past the defenders into Mbappe’s path, who then touched it over the onrushing Desmas to double PSG’s lead.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side looked as if they should have been on cruise control, but they let Clermont back into the game shortly before the break when Jodel Dossou turned in a ball that fizzed across the penalty area – Sergio Ramos was drawn out of the middle, Presnel Kimpembe could not get close enough to stop the cross, and Gianluigi Donnarumma could not reach it.
As PSG sought to react before the half-time whistle, Neymar forced a brilliant stop from Desmas that would have restored the two-goal advantage.
In the entertaining second half, both Desmas and Donnrumma were called into action at opposing ends, and Messi had the ball in the net with his head, but Mbappe was offside in the build-up.
But, PSG restored their two-goal advantage from the penalty spot when Neymar sent Desmas the wrong way after Mbappe’s drive into the box drew a naive sliding shove from Akim Zedadka that the defender mistimed.
PSG’s fourth goal was the most impressive of the bunch, as a precise Neymar pass over the top with the outside of his foot dismantled the Clermont defence. Mbappe controlled the ball and turned and blasted it past Desmas. The Frenchman then wheeled away to celebrate his 30th goal of the season.
His hat-trick goal was equally impressive, as he cut inside after receiving the ball from Messi and slashed it past Desmas into the far corner. He could have scored a fourth just a few moments later, but he unselfishly chose to pass the ball to Neymar for a hat-trick of his own.
There was to be no further consolation for the hosts as the Paris side did not let Clermont get another sniff of goal before the final whistle.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
