PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN beat Montpellier 3-0 to climb provisionally top of France’s Ligue 1 on Friday, with Ousmane Dembele providing much of the ammunition.
Luis Enrique’s new-look PSG seems to be clicking into gear with Lee Kang-in, Warren Zaire-Emery and Vitinha bagging the goals in a dominant win.
Lee’s left-foot shot into the top corner on 10 minutes opened the tally and sparked joy after Kylian Mbappe set him up with a clever dummy.
Mbappe was largely kept quiet by some robust defending ahead of PSG’s visit to AC Milan in the Champions League in midweek.
Just before the hour mark, Zaire-Emery made it 2-0 after a back-heel from Dembele left the 17-year-old in space on the edge of the six-yard box for a nerveless finish.
Substitute Vitinha scored with almost his first touch, slamming home from the edge of the area as goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte dived the right way marginally too late.
Dembele himself came close on 26 minutes and Mbappe, who scored his 250th and 251st goals for the club last week, was wasteful from an ensuing corner.
Mbappe nodded one in late on but walked away laughing sheepishly because he was so far offside.
Having started their European campaign with a 2-0 home win against Borussia Dortmund, PSG lost at Newcastle but top Group F with six points ahead of their trip to Milan in the Champions League after beating the Italians last week.
On Saturday all eyes will be on Marseille’s match against Lille, a week after the Lyon bus was pelted with heavy objects by OM fans, one of which left Lyon coach Fabio Grosso with a serious facial injury that caused the game to be called off.
Nice can climb back on top of the league when they host Rennes Sunday with third-placed Monaco hosting Brest the same evening.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid spurned a chance to rise to the top of La Liga as they fell to a surprise 2-1 defeat by Las Palmas on Friday.
Diego Simeone’s side would have levelled leaders Real Madrid and Girona on points with a victory but were outplayed by the hosts, provisionally ninth and enjoying their first season in the top flight since 2018.
Kirian Rodriguez and Benito Ramirez struck in the second half for the Canary Islanders to secure Garcia Pimienta’s side a famous victory, with Alvaro Morata pulling one back late on.
Atletico had racked up six consecutive league victories before falling short at Estadio de Gran Canaria.
The first half was a tight affair, with Las Palmas as mean at the back as they have been throughout this season — only Madrid and Atletico have conceded fewer goals.
The best opening of the first half fell to Rodrigo Riquelme, Atletico’s most dangerous player throughout.
Antoine Griezmann threaded a pass in behind for the Spanish midfielder, but Alvaro Valles was equal to his shot.
Las Palmas took the lead through Kirian’s low drive from outside the box after 51 minutes.
Atletico complained the ball had gone out in the build-up, but the hosts kept it in, with Javier Munoz cleverly stepping over Munir El-Haddadi’s pass to allow Kirian to strike.
Riquelme came close soon after, drilling a low effort against the post, and goalkeeper Valles breathed a sigh of relief as the ball bounced off his head on the rebound but did not drop over the line.
Simeone made the interesting choice to take off Griezmann after an hour, throwing on Angel Correa in his stead.
However, Las Palmas doubled their advantage with 15 minutes remaining when Ramirez smashed a low effort past Jan Oblak at the near post.
Morata set up an exciting finale when he tucked away Riquelme’s inviting cross, pulling level on seven La Liga goals with team-mate Griezmann, behind only Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham.
Morata might have levelled but flashed a shot against the crossbar with Valles out of position after saving well from Pablo Barrios’ fierce effort.
Atletico host Celtic on Tuesday in the Champions League and Simeone will demand far more from his side than this largely flat offering.
