As so often in Ligue 1, a two-speed PSG won at Clermont (1-6) on Saturday April 9. Excellent in the first half hour, the capital club then relied mainly on its attacking individuality. Kylian Mbappé and Neymar both scored a hat-trick. On alternating current against a willing but limited opponent, Paris regained a fifteen-point lead over second place, occupied by Rennes before the OM match on Sunday.
It’s over in Clermont! Our Parisians largely impose themselves after a very big collective performance!
Triplets for @KMbappe & @neymarjr #CF63PSG I 1-6 pic.twitter.com/1UlNcplNDH
— Paris Saint Germain (@PSG_inside) April 9, 2022
We will not create a false suspense as to the identity of the final winner of this Ligue 1, as PSG has shown the gulf separating it from the rest of the championship. With a quasi-standard team (and, to note, Sergio Ramos holder), the attacking trio Neymar-Messi-Mbappé combined. The six goals are shared, moreover, between the three tenors. Thanks to his hat-trick, Kylian Mbappé tops the scoring charts with twenty goals.
Neymar planted on a service from Messi (6th), converted a penalty obtained by Mbappé (72nd) before finishing a caviar from Bondysien (83rd). The French striker is not to be outdone: scorer on two passes from the Argentinian (19th, 80th), he also scored on a deep ball from the Brazilian (74th). Obviously, the relative adversity of the evening tempers the performance of the trio. But after the demonstration against Lorient (5-1 last Sunday), it finally shows its full potential. It would have been even better if there had been a Champions League quarter-final to prepare…
Clermont will mainly wait for trips to Metz and Troyes, two direct competitors, to position themselves. But the Auvergnats had the merit of believing in it, returning to a goal shortly before the break by Jodel Dossou (42nd). We can not, either, blame them for having sought to revive and multiply the short passes, despite the gap in abyssal level. Seventeenth in Ligue 1, Pascal Gastien’s players keep their heads above water, despite a fifth defeat in a row. They maintain a unit lead over Saint-Etienne, 18th, and five over Bordeaux and Metz, who face each other on Sunday.