Paris: Another Kylian Mbappe moment of magic and a Randal Kolo Muani goal helped Paris St Germainbeata toothlessACMilan3-0 at the Parc des Princestogotopof their Champions League Group F on Wednesday.
France forward Mbappe broke the deadlock with a clever low shot before the break, before Kolo Muani doubled the advantage in the second half after some fine play by their national team partner Ousmane Dembele.
Lee Kang-in added a third in the last minute for good measure.
“It’s team work, we enjoyed playing together,” said 17-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery.
“We playasa team, we make the efforts for our team mates, that’s how we do it.”
Kolo Muani said: “We wantedtocontrol the match andgofor the win. After the break we managedtoput the result beyond doubt. It gives us confidence for the gamestocome.”
While it was not an easy affair in the first half, Luis Enrique’s side prevailedtobe on six points from three games, two ahead of Borussia Dortmund who claimed a 1-0 win at Newcastle United.
ACMilan, who have now failedtoscore in five consecutive Champions League games and netted only once in their last four competitive matches, are bottom of the group on two points.
“We played the first half we wanted, but we couldn’t do that in the second half. We lacked a cutting edge in the box and after the break we made mistakes that cost us dearly. We needtoput our heads back on our shoulders,” saidMilan’s Olivier Giroud.
PSGgot offtoan aggressive start but were outnumbered in the midfield and struggledtofree themselves fromMilan’s pressing play.
They managed once, however,totake the upper hand in the midfield when Zaire-Emery powered throughtofind Mbappe, whobeathis defender and found the back of the net with a low shot into the corner on 32 minutes.
Ousmane Dembele celebrated what he thought was his first goal withPSG, but his effort was ruled out for a preceding foul by Manuel Ugarte.
Dembele did not give up, however, and he then created Kolo Muani’s goal five minutes laterashis shot was deflected byMilankeeper Mike Maignan into the path of his compatriot, who slotted it into the empty net.
Milanthreatened at times, notably through Christian Pulisic, but Gianluigi Donnarumma was on a good day, also tipping Rafael Leao’s effort awaytokeep a clean sheet.
Mbappe had another couple of chances but was twice denied by Maignan, who showed his best sidetomake two great saves.
Lee then netted his firstPSGgoal in the last minute when heconnectedwith a Zaire-Emery cut backastheFrenchUnder-21 midfielder completed a man-of-the-match performance.
PSGnext travel on Nov. 7toMilan, who will need what would be their first win in the group stagetomaintain their hopes of reaching the knockout phase.
Borussia will host Newcastle lookingtoput their opponents three points behind them in the table.
(Published 26 October 2023, 01:24 IST)