Lionel Messi was back among the goals as Paris Saint-Germain thrashed defending Ligue 1 champions Lille 5-1 on Sunday night.
Ligue 1
Result: Lille 1-5 Paris Saint-Germain
Date: 06 February 2022
Venue: Stade Pierre-Mauroy
Kylian Mbappe lead the attack alongside Lionel Messi and Angel di Maria, while Achraf Hakimi was back in the side after Morocco's elimination at the Africa Cup of Nations.
After the Coupe de France exit this week, the visitors got off to a fast start as Danilo Pereira opened the scoring on 10 minutes with a close-range finish after Ivo Grbic's spilled a cross in the box.
Lille managed to get themselves back on level terms in the 28th minute, as Hatem Ben Arfa skipped past one challenge before picking out Sven Botman, who converted with an acrobatic effort.
The hosts' joy was short-lived as PSG restored their lead four minutes later, with Prensel Kimpembe sending a looping header home off a corner from Messi.
Messi then got his name on the score-sheet with a lovely dink over the on-rushing Grbic to put the hosts two goals clear of the defending champions before the break.
Mauricio Pochettino's charges carried that dominance into the second half, as Pereira completed his brace six minutes after the break with a neat finish from the edge of the box.
Mbappe got in on the act in the 66th minute with a superb curling effort from around 20-yards out to take his tally to 11 league goals for the campaign.
The visitors continued to dominate in the latter stages of the half as they went in search of more goals, but they were unable to fashion any openings as the five goals were enough to send PSG 13 points clear of second-place Marseille.
Click through the gallery below to see PSG's highest earners this season:
