Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both hit new goalscoring milestones as Paris Saint-Germain turned up the heat to thump Marseille 3-0 in Le Classique on Sunday night.
Les Olympiens had the chance to reduce the gap to the champions to just two points at the Orange Velodrome, where they defeated Les Parisiens 2-1 in the Coupe de France earlier this month.
With Christophe Galtier's side flattering to deceive in recent weeks and losing Neymar and Achraf Hakimi to injury before the derby, optimism was not at its highest point for the visiting faithful.
However, the capital side displayed their title credentials with an astounding performance, as Mbappe scored a brace either side of Messi's effort to help their side go eight points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table.
Mbappe sat on 198 goals for PSG prior to kickoff, and the 24-year-old made it 199 on the 25-minute mark following a lightning-quick counter-attack, as Marseille were made to pay for committing bodies forward.
Messi charged at the Marseille defence, and Mbappe made a darting run infield from the left to receive the ball from the Argentine before firing home into the bottom corner, arguably against the run of play.
PSG are playing at this point 🫢
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 26, 2023
What a goal this. Worked by Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LoJcdpkFrz
The high-pressing machine of PSG came to the fore, though, and only four minutes later, Galtier's side had the ball in the back of the net for the second time, with Messi and Mbappe swapping roles.
Mbappe picked up the ball on the left-hand side and picked out the run of Messi, who was left unmarked in the box to tap home his 700th career club goal.
With 55 minutes on the clock, PSG had their third and Mbappe had another page in the Parisiens history books, and it was the usual suspects up to their old tricks once again.
However, this Messi-Mbappe combination proved to be the pick of the bunch, as the Argentine's sumptuous chipped ball over the top met Mbappe, who got in behind and connected with Messi's cross with a stunning left-footed volley.
In doing so, the ex-Monaco starlet drew level with Edinson Cavani as the highest goalscorer in PSG history - netting his 200th goal for the club in just 246 appearances, while Cavani took 301 games to hit that mark.
PSG's defence stood firm in the final exchanges to see out a much-needed win for the under-fire Galtier, who now prepares his side for next weekend's clash with Nantes and their imminent Champions League last-16 second leg against Bayern Munich.
Ben Knapton
