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Kylian Mbappe came on as a substitute and successfully scored a penalty, helping Paris St Germain secure a 2-0 victory against Nantes and widen their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 14 points.
Mbappe, who told PSG on Friday of his intention to leave in the summer when his contract expires, struck his 21st league goal of the season from the spot after Lucas Hernandez had given his side a second-half lead.
As rumors of Mbappe’s potential move to Real Madrid for the upcoming season continue to swirl, the 25-year-old, along with Ousmane Dembele and Achraf Hakimi, were not included in Luis Enrique’s starting line-up.
Last summer, there was a disagreement between Mbappe and PSG regarding his contract. However, he started and scored in PSG’s 2-0 victory against Real Sociedad in the Champions League last-16 match on Wednesday night.
The French attacker declined to agree to a one-year extension clause and as a result, was expelled from the primary team roster and excluded from their pre-season trip to Asia.
He was grinning from ear to ear while standing with his boss Enrique, anticipating his entry into the game at Stade de la Beaujoire. This was just after Hernandez scored the first goal and he was given the captain’s armband upon entering the field.
At the conclusion of the initial 45 minutes of play with minimal scoring opportunities, Nantes came close to scoring twice and had a goal disallowed due to being offside.
Hernandez made a crucial tackle to stop Douglas Augusto, which was confirmed by VAR as being fair. Marquinhos then stopped Nicolas Cozza’s shot after Gianluigi Donnarumma had blocked Mostafa Mohamed’s attempt.
Nantes believed they had scored the first goal when their defender, Nicolas Pallois, tapped in a corner kick, but the referee’s assistant signaled that it was not a valid goal.
Pallois’ dipping 30-yard volley was comfortably saved by Donnarumma early in the second half and PSG took the lead on the hour-mark through Hernandez’s deflected shot.
Enrique immediately substituted Mbappe, Dembele, and Hakimi after Hernandez scored the first goal, and the away team secured their victory over Nantes with 12 minutes left in the game.
Augusto caused Mbappe to fall in the penalty area, and the French attacker quickly got back on his feet to powerfully score a penalty kick. This was his 26th goal out of 28 games for his team this season, across all competitions.
Nantes nearly scored a goal in the closing minutes of the game, but Donnarumma saved substitute Moses Simon’s shot and deflected it off the post. This extends PSG’s undefeated streak in the league to 17 matches.
Source: independent.co.uk
