sports

Mbappe reaches 100th goal for PSG in league win against Montpellier

French striker Kylian Mbappe came off the bench to hit his 100th goal for Paris Saint-Germain as the defending champion overcame Montpellier 3-1 after an uphill battle on Saturday.

The milestone goal came in the stoppage time of the match when Layvin Kurzawa’s cross set up for Mbappe’s easy finish.

The 21-year-old achieved the feat in just 137 matches since arriving in Paris in 2017, and now sits tied in third place of the club’s all-time leading scorers with Dominique Rocheteau, who got his century in 255 appearances in the 1980s.

Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani leads the list with 200 goals while Swedish great Zlatan Ibrahimovic is second with 156.

Colin Dagba struck the opener for PSG on the pitch of La Mosson but the lead was cancelled by English forward Stephy Mavididi through a counter-attack only seven minutes later. Mavididi could have netted a second before the break but his close-range shot was denied by Keylor Navas.

Thomas Tuchel’s side has just claimed an important victory in the Champions League at Old Trafford three days before, and the German coach opted to rest some of its top players including Neymar and Marco Verratti in the domestic league ahead of its crucial Champions League game against Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday.

Moise Kean put PSG in front again in the 77th minute with a close-range rocketing finish before Mbappe flicked in a Kurzawa’s cross to lock it 3-1 in the 91st.

The win helped PSG extend its lead in the standings to four points over the second-placed Marseille, but with two more games played.

In the other match on Saturday, early league frontrunner Rennes hosted Lens but was beaten by the promoting side 2-0 to see its winless run extend to seven games in all competitions.

Rennes has got only one victory in its last 13 matches and suffered a four-game losing streak in the Champions League to rank the bottom in Group E.

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