Kylian Mbappe set a new Ligue 1 record after bagging a brace in Paris Saint-Germain's win over AS Monaco, while Lionel Messi was also honoured on Sunday night.
Ligue 1
Result: Paris Saint-Germain v AS Monaco
Date: 12 December 2021
Venue: Parc de Princes
Scroll through the gallery above to see the special kit PSG played in to celebrate Messi's Ballon d'Or title.
PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino recalled Idrissa Gueye and Georginio Wijnaldum in midfield, alongside Kylian Mbappe, who returned to form an attacking trio that included Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria.
Monaco were unlucky not to ahead in just the third minute after Sofiane Diop unleashed a low drive from the edge of the box that came off the base of the post and ricocheted onto the arms of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The game carried that momentum of a fast start, as PSG were awarded a penalty in the 12th minute following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review after Di Maria was brought down inside the box by Djibril Sidibe and Mbappe did not need any second invitation as he dispatched home the spot-kick.
Pochettino's charges were happy absorbing the pressure and waiting for their moments on counter-attacks and that moment came on the stroke of half-time after Messi made an interception and played Mbappe through on goal, who cut inside and curled his strike into the far corner to double the hosts' lead and grabbed his brace.
100 - Kylian Mbappé has now scored 100 Ligue 1 goals for Paris. He is the youngest player to score 100 goals for a single team in the top-flight (22 years and 357 days) since Opta began recording this data (1950/51). Astonishing. #PSGASM pic.twitter.com/kxtnLpPCO3
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) December 12, 2021
Monaco could not get going in the early exchanges of the second stanza and Niko Kovac made a double change ten minutes in, as Myron Boadu replaced Wissam Ben Yedder for fresh legs upfront and Jean Lucas came on for Youssouf Fofana for the same reason in midfield.
However, the Parisians remained in control and Messi had a chance to make it 3-0 in the last 20 minutes after exchanging passes with Mbappe in the box but he dragged his shot just wide.
PSG kept on pressing high, forcing Monaco to make errors but they let them off the hook with chances on the turnovers and settled for a 2-0 win that extended their lead at the top of the log to 13 points.
Here are PSG's highest earners this season:
