Paris Saint-Germain wasted no time in opening the scoring in Ligue 1’s top two clash on Sunday night — in all of eight seconds. Lionel Messi teed up Kylian Mbappe in a move straight from kick off which caught the Lille defense out at a stunned Stade Pierre Mauroy. Take a look:
Neymar got the game underway with Marco Verratti the only other player from either side to touch the ball before Messi majestically located Mbappe who lofted the ball over Leo Jardim with aplomb. It was literally blink and you missed it stuff in northern France with many spectators yet to take their seat and the kick-off whistle barely silenced.
Also, it appeared to be the surprise impact Christophe Galtier’s men were going for which suggests that it is something which has been cooked up on the training ground. That, or Les Dogues’ former coach knew that the defense would start with such a high line and opposite number Paulo Fonseca has yet to change it.
Mbappe’s early strike equals Caen’s Michel Rio from back in 1992 which predated Opta’s entry into the stats gathering game. The Frenchman now leads their record with his goal their earliest ever recorded from 2006-07 onwards.
Messi doubled PSG’s lead shortly afterwards to notch a goal and an assist inside of 30 minutes before Achraf Hakimi made it three and Neymar added a fourth before it was even halftime. A Paris win on Sunday maintains the capital club’s 100% winning start at the Championnat summit with an unbeaten campaign looking very possible so far.
