PARIS (AP) – World Cup winner Lionel Messi scored and Kylian Mbappé missed a twice-taken penalty before getting injured as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) won 3-1 at Montpellier to move five points clear at the top of the French league early yesterday.
Mbappé went down clutching his leg just under the right knee and limped off in the 21st minute – having missed a twice-taken penalty and blazed the rebound over an open goal on his second effort.
It was unclear exactly what his injury was. Television cameras also caught him rubbing the back of his left thigh as he walked to the dressing room.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier told broadcaster Canal Plus “he took a blow behind the knee”, and said at his news conference the injury does not appear serious.
“Is it a bruise? We don’t know yet. It doesn’t look very serious,” Galtier said.
“We’re not too worried.”
The Argentina star Messi tucked home PSG’s second goal with a typically neat finish in the 72nd after being set up by Fabián Ruiz, who put PSG ahead in the 55th.
Striker Arnaud Nordin pulled one back in the 89th and, with the home team pushing forward, 16-year-old substitute Warren Zaïre-Emery drove the ball home for 3-1 in stoppage time with his first goal for the club. “It’s my first goal in the first division, so I’m very happy,” Zaïre-Emery said after becoming PSG’s youngest scorer. The midfielder turns 17 in March.
Defending champion PSG is five points ahead of Marseille, which won 2-0 at Nantes to move one point ahead of Lens into second spot for the automatic Champions League place.
Lens lost 1-0 against Nice for its first home league defeat and second overall.
PSG visits both Monaco and Marseille this month and is at Marseille in the French Cup, as well as takes on Bayern Munich in the first leg of their round-of-16 encounter in the Champions League on February 14.
