PSG 5 Lorient 1: Messi, Neymar and Mbappe all score in same game for first time ever to send Parisiens 12 points clear
LIONEL Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe finally all scored in the same game eight months after they became team-mates.
The Paris Saint-Germain trio were expected to regularly be on the scoresheet together after Messi's historic transfer from Barcelona last August.
Before Sunday's home clash with Lorient, Messi had scored just seven goals for the club and none of them in the same game as Neymar and Mbappe.
That all changed on Sunday evening though when all three found the back of the net during a thumping 5-1 win at home to Ligue 1 strugglers Lorient.
Once again Neymar was booed by the PSG faithful before the game, as was manager Mauricio Pochettino, while his name continues to be linked with the Manchester United job.
Messi's name though was greeted with cheers as it was read out by the stadium announcer, after he too was jeered alongside Neymar last month.
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It was the latter who opened the scoring in Paris after just 12 minutes, coolly slotting past Matthieu Dreyer after an inch-perfect Mbappe through-ball.
Mbappe turned from provider to scorer just before the half hour mark, cutting inside onto his right foot and drilling into the bottom corner from 15 yards after being teed up by Idrissa Gueye.
Terem Moffi halved the deficit 11 minutes into the second half to give Lorient brief hope, but Mbappe restored PSG's two-goal lead another 11 minutes later.
A beautiful drop of the shoulder saw him glide past the challenge of Julien Laporte and free up room on the edge of the box for a shot, which he duly smashed past a helpless Dreyer.
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Messi then got in the act with 17 minutes left to play, and in doing so ensured the trio all had their names on the scoresheet in the same game for the first time.
Excellent work by the irresistible Mbappe saw him get to the byline, before he pulled the ball back across the face of goal for Messi to stroke home via the underside of the crossbar.
Neymar though saved the best until last - adding his second of the night in the final minute of the 90.
The playmaker gathered the ball in his own half before audaciously flicking the ball through the legs of Fabien Lemoine.
He burst into Lorient territory before sliding the ball into the feet of Mbappe with the outside of his right boot and continuing his run into the box, calling for the return.
Mbappe duly obliged and played the one-two, with Neymar expertly despatching the finish past Dreyer to put the icing on the cake.
The win put PSG 12 points clear of second-placed Marseille at the top of Ligue 1 with just eight games left to play in the season.
And despite another below-par campaign in Europe, Les Parisiens are inching ever closer to sealing an eighth Ligue 1 triumph in just 10 seasons.