Paris Saint-Germain’s superstar front-three stole the show once more on Saturday evening, as the capital giants ran out dominant victors over Clermont.
Mauricio Pochettino’s troops returned to action a short time ago.
After finally clicking into gear courtesy of a dominant 5-1 downing of Lorient last time out, PSG made the trip to The Stade Gabriel-Montpied, hopeful of extending their advantage at the summit of the Ligue 1 table ever further.
And, when all was said and done, this is precisely what the evening’s visitors managed.
Another rampant attacking display ultimately culminated in the Parisians emerging on the right side of a 6-1 scoreline, to move a step closer to regaining champion status in the French top-flight.
It should, in turn, come as little surprise to hear of three of world football’s finest firmly stealing the show at the Gabriel-Montpied, in the form of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi.
Remarkably, the former pair both secured hat-trick honours for themselves, in the process joining an altogether exclusive club of players:
3+3 – Kylian Mbappé and Neymar are the first pair of teammates to score a hat-trick in the same match in any of Europe’s big five leagues since Ayoze Pérez and Jamie Vardy for Leicester against Southampton in October 2019. Firepower. pic.twitter.com/nnvOz9wGA3
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 9, 2022
Not only that, but Lionel Messi was too at the treble, albeit on the creative front, bagging a trio of assists to make it a hefty thirteen across the Ligue 1 campaign to date:
PSG’s front three were a different gravy this evening! ?
?⚽️ Neymar-hat trick
?⚽️ Mbappe-hat trick
??️ Messi hat-trick of assists pic.twitter.com/iBZcsEAQ9a— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 9, 2022
Messi magic
Messi’s latest haul, meanwhile, has also seen the Argentine etch his name into the history books of French football.
This comes with the 7-time Ballon d’Or winner, as per statisticians Opta, having become the first player to rack up three assists in two separate fixtures in the same Ligue 1 season since such figures were first recorded back in 2006.
2 – Lionel Messi is the first Ligue 1 player to provide three assists in two different games in the same season since Opta analysed the competition (2006/07). Gifts. #CF63PSG pic.twitter.com/OAK8ASOsDP
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 9, 2022
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