Les Parisiens shine in Lille!

At the start of a packed month of February, Paris Saint-Germain were back in league action with a trip up north, as LOSC stood in Les Rouge et Bleu's way for a heavyweight clash. It was also a chance for Mauricio Pochettino to put some key players back into his starting 11, including captain Marquinhos, as well as Achraf Hakimi, who shone with Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations. Kylian Mbappé was also on the pitch at kick-off, backed up on either side by Leo Messi and Angel Di María.

The game's early stages quickly revealed both sides' intentions, with Mauricio Pochettino's highly focused men getting hold of the ball and taking control of the play. As if to illustrate how well they were using the wings, the breakthrough came from Nuno Mendes. Having been stopped over on his left flank, the Portuguese bamboozled his marker before delivering a deep cross that Grbic could only push to the feet of Danilo Pereira, who finished with a sliding tackle in the 10th minute. With their pride somewhat wounded, Lille hit back shortly afterwards. Whilst Gigio Donnarumma was again commanding between the sticks to stop several other chances, the hosts equalised in the 28th minute through Sven Botman, following a cutback from Hatem Ben Arfa.

Despite Lille enjoying the momentum at this point, cracking under the pressure was not an option; Les Parisiens had more than one string to their bow. They also managed to exploit set pieces with some inspired play. Before Messi saw his splendid free kick hit the bar just before the break, Presnel Kimpembe restored Les Rouge et Bleu's lead in the 32nd minute, providing a poacher's finish to an in-swinging corner from the Argentine and thereby scoring the first goal of his career in Ligue 1! As for other positive points for Mauricio Pochettino's men, they can boast tremendous efficiency in both boxes. Having been involved in his side's second goal, Messi put on his goalscorer's hat in the 38th minute to net the third with a deft chip following a counter-attack that was initiated by the speedy Mbappé.

Concentration, commitment, inspiration: Paris had it all to respond to the intensity of the game, and they kept up their modus operandi in the second half, as the waves continued to come crashing down. Either side of chances for both the Messi-Mbappé duo (49', 54') and Hakimi (56'), Danilo Pereira added more salt to Lille's wounds with a deflected shot to bag himself a brace in the 51st minute. It was a heavy blow but not the final one, as Mbappé, who was still hungry for more, combined strength and accuracy with a marvellously curled shot to get Paris's fifth goal in the 66th minute – a comfortable lead that was intelligently looked after in the final 20 minutes. Despite a couple of chances for either side, the score remained unchanged.

After a fine team display, Paris Saint-Germain recorded a convincing win to further strengthen their place at the top of the table. It was also the ideal performance with which to head into their upcoming encounters full of confidence, starting with the game at home to Stade Rennais on Friday. Les Rouge et Bleu not only got the job done but got it done in style, too.