Paris Saint-Germain’s stars came through their final game before the World Cup unscathed, with France forward Kylian Mbappe opening the scoring in the unbeaten league leader’s 5-0 home win against Auxerre on Sunday.
Argentina star Lionel Messi, Brazil’s Neymar and Mbappe all started against Auxerre as PSG maintained its five-point lead over second-place Lens.
Messi and Neymar came off with about 15 minutes left but Mbappe played the full match, despite coming off near the end last weekend with muscle fatigue. Mbappe joins up with defending champion France’s squad on Monday before flying out to Qatar on Wednesday.
“As soon as my players had made the difference, I focused on managing them,” PSG coach Christophe Galthie said. “I quickly made changes to protect them.”
PSG rested Brazil defender Marquinhos because of some muscle discomfort.
PSG’s players didn’t hold back against Auxerre, despite the fear of a late injury, as the opening goal came after 10 minutes.
“I ask the people I work with to be demanding, not to fall into a comfort zone … We had to win, Lens has been on an incredible run,” Galthie said. “I wanted to pick the most competitive team possible. The players responded very well today, we were serious and diligent.”
