Kylian Mbappé became Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time record goalscorer as he scored the fourth in a 4-2 win over Nantes at the Parc des Princes.
The result sees Les Parisiens open up an 11-point lead at the top of the table.
At times, PSG’s expensively-assembled squad of world-class talents can cut through opposition defences like butter.
At others, they look flustered and lose the initiative within a moment, and the visit of the reigning Coupe de France winners provided the occasion for both.
Throughout the first 30 minutes, the Parisians were dominant and raced into a two-goal lead with Lionel Messi beating Nicolas Pallois to a deflected cross, before Jaouen Hadjam put the ball into his own net at the back post under pressure from Nordi Mukiele.
Prior to kick-off, Nantes had not scored a first-half away league goal in each of their last 13 matches, yet by the interval, they had two.
Against the run of play, Ludovic Blas halved the deficit for Nantes in the 31st minute, taking advantage of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s poor positioning to fire home from a tight angle and, within minutes, the scores were level as Hadjam atoned for his previous header to bundle in a flicked-on corner.
It was a Jekyll and Hyde opening period from the French champions – the question was, which would come out of the tunnel for the second half?
Ultimately, they were able to retrieve their form from the opening stages and retake the lead. Danilo Pereira was this time the goalscorer, getting on the end of a Kylian Mbappé cross to power a header beyond Alban Lafont.
It looked as though Mbappé – who has 200 career goals for PSG – would have the opportunity to break Edinson Cavani’s leading tally for the club when a penalty was awarded after Hadjam tripped Mukiele.
However, following a VAR intervention, the spot-kick became a free-kick as the foul occurred just outside the area.
Mbappé was obviously desperate to write himself into the history books and, after seeing several attempts denied, he finally had his strike in injury time, burying an effort into the corner on the turn.
As the gap at the summit grows once more, the victors will immediately cast their eyes to Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League last-16 second leg with Bayern Munich.
They trail 1-0 to the Bavarians and, regardless of whether they canter to another domestic title, it is in European competition that they will ultimately be judged.
