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Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) had a comfortable outing on their visit to 13th-placed Montpellier as the front three of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria all got on the scoresheet.
Montpellier were second-best throughout the game and were put to the sword by the visitors, who looked sharp on the attack.
The home side did get their chances to get back into the game, but were largely wasteful in the final-third and could not test Gianluigi Donnarumma enough in goal. Mbappe and Messi's chemistry was a sight to behold as they played some glamorous one-touch give-and-go football on numerous occasions.
It took the former Barcelona talisman only six minutes to get on the scoresheet. The corner was taken short and worked to Mbappe on the left side, who ventured ahead and made a cut back. Di Maria was in its path but let the ball roll as Lionel Messi applied his magic touch to find the back of the net.
Just 14 minutes later, the Argentina captain completed his brace as PSG started a quick move from the back with Donnarumma playing the ball to Mbappe on the left-flank. The 23-year old then produced a sensational trivella square pass to Lionel Messi who arrived in the box, got the better of the Montpellier shot-stopper with some neat footwork and deposited the ball into the net.
PSG put the game to bed before the half-hour mark as Di Maria also got on the scoresheet in the 26th minute. Mbappe was involved again as he lofted the ball for a dipping cross into the box. Maxime Esteve headed it, but couldn't get the ball out of the box as the Argentine forward arrived and sweetly timed his shot beyond Dimitry Bertaud in goal.
Lionel Messi steps back to let Mbappe score his 25th goal for PSG in Ligue 1
Mbappe was desperate to get on the scoresheet as he is locked in the Golden Boot race with Wissam Ben Yedder. He hit the crossbar in the 34th minute when he tried to find the top right corner. The keeper was well beaten, but the ball rebounded after hitting the upright.
However, Mbappe got his chance to get on the scoresheet in the 57th minute when he was brought down in the box by Arnaud Souquet. The conundrum was whether Lionel Messi would take the penalty to seal his hat-trick or whether the Frenchman would take it to score his 25th goal in French top-flight and move above Ben Yedder.
The Argentine sacrificed his hat-trick and the 23-year old buried it from the spot to seal the game for Mauricio Pochettino's side. Messi fans would have loved to see him take the match ball home, but PSG could not score any more goals on the night as the game ended 4-0. This is how the fans reacted to the clash on Twitter.
