Ligue 1

Ligue 1 Top Five, Round Eleven: PSG and Mbappe destroy Marseille

The Parisiens, along with Lille, make up the top five this weekend.

 
12:51pm on Monday 28th October 2019
By
Martin Macdonald
Kylian Mbappé
S (C), AM (R) - PSG - 20 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
71'
9.3
Oct 27, 2019

It is safe to say that Mbappe is back to his best after recovering from an early-season injury. He netted the fastest Champions League hat-trick by a substitute in tournament history a week ago, and followed that up with two goals against Marseille in Le Classique. After Mauro Icardi scored the opening two in the 4-0 win, it was then Mbappe's time to shine. His first came from close range after an unselfish pass from Angel Di Maria, while his second was an absolutely glorious team goal. The move started as far back as Keylor Navas, who played out from the back, with the ball eventually finding Di Maria, who sent Mbappe through to dink over Steve Mandanda.

Marco Verratti
M, DM (C) - PSG - 26 yrs
90'
9.2
Oct 27, 2019

Verratti controlled proceedings in midfield for PSG as they demolished Marseille, completing 85 out of 93 passes on Sunday evening. He also had the second-most touches out of anyone in this round of Ligue 1 fixtures behind team-mate Presnel Kimpembe, and assisted Icardi's second goal with a delightful chipped cross into the box for the Argentine to head into the corner. He ensured the visitors never really got any momentum going with his six ball recoveries, while he also won every single one of his attempted tackles.

Géronimo Rulli
GK - Montpellier - 27 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
9.1
Oct 26, 2019

Montpellier frustrated Angers to a 0-0 draw, largely due to the performance of Rulli in between the sticks. The Argentine made six saves in total as the hosts held on for a point, and also made a whopping 17 ball recoveries. Angers' profligacy may have been a factors in the result, too, but they simply couldn't find a way past Rulli.

Mauro Icardi
S (C) - PSG - 26 yrs
90'
8.7
Oct 27, 2019

There will always be doubts over the attitude of Icardi due to his exploits in the past, but there is no doubting his ability to find the back of the net, which he did twice in Le Classique. The first, to open the scoring after 10 minutes, saw an initially poor header badly handled by Mandanda, which allowed him to slam the rebound home. His second was a much better header, as he cushioned Verratti's cross into the bottom left corner. Remarkably, he only made seven passes the entire game, but who needs passes when you are scoring, eh?

Benjamin André
DM, M (C) - Lille - 29 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
8.7
Oct 26, 2019

Speaking of Andre, the Frenchman rounds off our top five following his excellent outing against Bordeaux. He scored the goal of the match 22 minutes in when he curled a gorgeous finish into the right corner from 18 yards, with the ball just turning at the right moment to get on target. He slid 24 passes into the final third, too, and was key defensively as he made nine ball recoveries and six interceptions.

ROUND TO FORGET

Steve Mandanda (4.2) was pretty hopeless in Le Classique, as it wasn't just the four goals conceded, but the manner of the first two. He started by softly palming Icardi's header straight back out for the rebound to be smashed in, and then ran out arms flailing for the second, which saw the Argentine nod beyond him.

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