PARIS: Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi scored a goal each as French league leader Paris Saint-Germain profited from a red card to beat second-place Lens 3-1 and move nine points clear of its rival.
It was an extra special goal for Mbappé. Earlier this season he became PSG’s all-time leading scorer when he beat Edinson Cavani’s 200-goal mark. Mbappé’s strike on Saturday against Lens made the 24-year-old France striker the outright all-time top scorer for PSG in the league with 139 goals. Cavani netted 138.
Overall, Mbappé now counts 203 for PSG.
Marseille can go above Lens with a home win against struggling Troyes on Sunday, with seven games left after this weekend’s round.
Lens was in complete control until midfielder Salis Abdul Samed was sent off for a reckless challenge on right back Achraf Hakimi in the 19th minute.
Mbappé scored his league-leading 20th goal when he took a pass from midfielder Vitinha and turned quickly before hitting a first-time shot into the bottom right corner in the 31st. Vitinha doubled the lead six minutes later with a 25-meter strike into the same corner.
Messi then combined in the 40th with Mbappé, who backheeled the ball to the Argentine for a low strike. It was Messi’s 15th league goal.
Lens played better than PSG in the second half, despite being a player down. A handball from PSG midfielder Fabian Ruiz following a corner gave Lens a penalty and Poland winger Przemysław Frankowski sent goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way in the 60th.
Lens’ 15-goal top scorer Loïs Openda had a shot saved in the 64th and then forced a corner as the visitors kept up the pressure.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier has been under pressure after eight defeats this year across all competitions, and this week vehemently denied allegations he had made racist and anti-Muslim comments when he was in charge of Nice last season.
The Parc des Princes crowd fell silent as Lens dominated early on, with Samed’s header smartly saved by Donnarumma after just two minutes.
PSG defender Danilo almost scored an embarrassing own-goal when his looping back pass from near halfway surprised Donnarumma in the 10th and bounced just wide.
The match turned in PSG’s favor when midfielder Samed lunged at Hakimi and caught his left ankle in a dangerous tackle.
Also Saturday, Rennes beat Reims 3-0 to move one point above Lille and into fifth place. Belgium winger Jérémy Doku scored twice for Rennes inside the first 20 minutes. Defender Arthur Theate made it 3-0 in the 69th.
Mbappé sets league goals record for PSG in 3-1 win vs Lens
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Mbappé sets league goals record for PSG in 3-1 win vs Lens
- Earlier this season he became PSG’s all-time leading scorer when he beat Edinson Cavani’s 200-goal mark
Premier League rings in New Year with goal drought as Man City lose ground in title race
- Second-placed City would have reduced Arsenal’s advantage to two points but instead were frustrated as their winning streak in all competitions was halted at eight
- Liverpool’s attack was also found wanting as they drew 0-0 at home to Leeds United while there were no goals at Brentford as they ground out a draw with Tottenham Hotspur
SUNDERLAND, England: The Premier League’s festive feast turned stale on Thursday as the New Year’s Day program served up three 0-0 draws, most significantly Manchester City’s stalemate at Sunderland which left them four points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Second-placed City would have reduced Arsenal’s advantage to two points but instead were frustrated as their winning streak in all competitions was halted at eight.
Liverpool’s attack was also found wanting as they drew 0-0 at home to Leeds United while there were no goals at Brentford as they ground out a draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
The only goals of the day came at Selhurst Park where Fulham’s Tom Cairney scored a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw.
Sunderland have proved stubborn opposition on their return to the Premier League and have now drawn with City, Arsenal and third-placed Aston Villa at their Stadium of Light.
They are only the second promoted team to remain unbeaten in their first 10 home games in a Premier League campaign, after Ipswich Town in 1992-93, and were worth their point.
City did everything in their power to make the breakthrough but home goalkeeper Robin Roefs pulled off a series of saves while the closest the visitors came to scoring was Josko Gvardiol’s header which shaved the post in the second half.
“They are so physical. They’re so strong, so it’s not a surprise at that. We take the point,” City boss Pep Guardiola said. “Really pleased with the performances, especially in the second half. There’s still a long way (to go).”
One boost for City was the sight of Rodri back in action as a substitute for the injured Niko Gonzalez having recovered from a hamstring injury that had restricted him to a handful of minutes in the last three months.
Arsenal’s 4-1 thrashing of Villa on Tuesday put them on 45 points at the halfway stage of the season while Pep Guardiola’s City have 41 after just their second league draw of the season.
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to struggling Bournemouth on Saturday while City are at home a day later against Chelsea who parted ways with coach Enzo Maresca on Thursday.
Reigning champions Liverpool are 12 points behind Arsenal in fourth place as they produced a lacklustre display.
Their best chance fell to Hugo Ekitike but his miss rather summed up Liverpool’s day, somehow heading an inviting cross by Jeremie Frimpong away from goal when he seemed set to score.
It could have been worse for Arne Slot’s side too with Dominic Calvert-Lewin having an 81st-minute goal disallowed for offside after latching on to a pass by Noah Okafor.
“You would like to start off (2026) with a win,” Slot said. “But it was difficult. I don’t think we were able to play many times through their low block.
“Sometimes we didn’t have enough bodies in front of the goal and in other moments where we did create or we were close to a goal, we were a bit unfortunate.”
For Leeds it was another important point in their bid to stay clear of the relegation zone. They are in 16th place with 21 points, seven ahead of third-from-bottom West Ham United.
“It doesn’t come along that often that you get a clean sheet and a point at Anfield,” Leeds boss Daniel Farke said.
“We had to defend and suffer but we are newly promoted and came to the defending champions.”
Spurs manager Thomas Frank went back to his old club Brentford but it was a forgettable affair as Tottenham’s 137-game run in the Premier League without a goalless draw ended.
Their last one was also against Brentford in May 2022.
The draw left Tottenham in 12th place with 26 points while Brentford, who had the better chances, are ninth with 27.
Palace are now winless in six matches in all competitions as they were denied victory by a superb curling shot by Cairney.
Jean-Philippe Mateta had headed Palace into the lead but the hosts faded and Fulham would have snatched all three points had Dean Henderson not made a great save to deny Timothy Castagne and had Joachim Andersen not blazed a shot over.
“When the legs and the mind are not that fresh it’s a little bit difficult. It was a good point today,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said. Palace are 10th with Fulham 11th, both on 27 points.
