Paris on fire and set the date for Europe

There was a whiff of the European Cup in Brittany as this Ligue 1 Matchday 20 clash served as a rehearsal for the UEFA Champions League play-offs, which will see Paris and Brest go head-to-head. For the game, Luis Enrique did not make many changes, with Kvarastkhelia again starting alongside Dembélé and Barcola.

It didn't take long for the three Parisian forwards to get going, with the Georgian found at the far post by Hakimi, but Kvara was unable to direct the ball well enough to score his first goal for Paris (13'). After an Ajorque shot went narrowly wide (18‘), it was Barcola who went close next, causing trouble on the right before hitting the outside of the post from a tight angle (19’).

Bradley was eventually decisive in setting up Dembélé. Played in behind by Ruiz, he entered the box and pulled it back to Ousmane, who finished alone in front of goal (0-1, 29'). The scorer of 5 of the last 7 goals in Ligue 1, Dembélé is back at the top of the scoring charts.

The Rouge et Bleu dominated, against a Brest side that had to retreat to avoid conceding any more. But they came back with a renewed sense of purpose in the second half, which was rewarded when Del Castillo equalised with a side-footed finish past Donnarumma (1-1, 50').

However, it didn't take long for Luis Enrique's men to react, and it was Dembélé again who found the net when a long ball was poorly cleared by the Breton defence. He was alert and took advantage of the opposition's slackness to put his side back in front (1-2, 57'). A hat-trick against Stuttgart, and a hat-trick against Brest, as he added to his tally a few moments later from a fine team move.

Doué, who had just come on, found Lee in the box, who made his opponent dance, before finding Dembélé in space. He finished cleanly past Bizot to extend his side's lead (1-3, 62'). He becomes the first player in the club's history to score back-to-back hat-tricks. Dembouz makes history!

But as is often the case this season, Brest managed to find the means to keep the reigning French champions on their toes, and Ludovic Ajorque pulled one back for his side to keep the game alive (2-3, 71'). Although they began to press forward after the goal, they cracked after the introduction of Ramos, who is making a habit of scoring off the bench at the end of games to round off wins. After Doué set him up for the first (2-4, 89'), he made the second all on his own, playing an inadvertent one-two with his marker before finding the back of the net for the second-latest goal in Paris's league history (2-5, 90'+7).

It was a superb win against an opponent who never gives up, and it promises to be two great evenings of European Cup action against the same opponents later this month.