Soccer

Kylian Mbappe stars as PSG close in on Ligue 1 title

Mbappe scored his 26th goal of the season.

Kylian Mbappe (right) and Ousmane Dembele celebrate during Paris St Germain’s win over Lorient (Michel Euler/AP)
Kylian Mbappe (right) and Ousmane Dembele celebrate during Paris St Germain’s win over Lorient (Michel Euler/AP) (Michel Euler/AP)

Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele each scored twice as Paris St Germain moved to the brink of sealing another Ligue 1 title with a 4-1 win at Lorient.

The first half saw Dembele net the opener and Mbappe add a flicked finish before the latter set up the former in fine style for PSG’s third on the hour mark.

After Mohamed Bamba’s reply, Mbappe added his second late on, his 26th league goal of the season.

Luis Enrique’s side are now 11 points clear at the top of the table with four games remaining as the capital club close in a third successive title and 10th in 12 years.

Second-placed Monaco ensured PSG did not clinch the crown on Wednesday with Youssouf Fofana’s goal seeing them to a 1-0 home win over fourth-placed Lille.

Nice, in fifth, earned a 2-2 draw at 10-man Marseille thanks to Melvin Bard’s 72nd-minute equaliser. The visitors had led through Terem Moffi before Marseille replied with a Jonathan Clauss goal and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s penalty, either side of having Faris Moumbagna sent off just before the interval.

Atalanta will take on Juventus in the Coppa Italia final after two stoppage-time goals secured a 4-2 aggregate win over a Fiorentina outfit reduced to 10 men shortly after the break.

Three weeks on from losing the first leg 1-0 in Florence, Atalanta brought things level early on at the Gewiss Stadium through Teun Koopmeiners’ finish.

Things got worse for Fiorentina with Nikola Milenkovic’s dismissal eight minutes into the second half, only for them to then hit back with a 68th-minute header from Lucas Martinez Quarta.

Gianluca Scamacca made things all square in the tie again with an acrobatic effort with 15 minutes remaining, before substitutes Ademola Lookman and Mario Pasalic netted in stoppage time to send Gian Piero Gasperini’s men through.