Kylian Mbappe scored a second-half hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain cruised to a 5-0 win over Club Brugge in Tuesday s Champions League Group A clash.
The France forward was introduced from the bench seven minutes into the second half and helped put the game out of Brugge s reach with a devastating display that also included an assist.
Mauro Icardi opened the scoring for PSG at Jan Breydel Stadium and made it five goals in four matches after being set up by Mbappe in the second half.
Thomas Tuchel s men have now won all three European matches without conceding and are five points better off than second-placed Real Madrid, who beat Galatasaray 1-0 in the other Group A fixture.
3 Angel Di Maria is the first player of Paris to deliver 3+ assists in a Champions League game since Zlatan Ibrahimovic against Dinamo Zagreb on 6 November 2012 (4). Helpful.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean)
Icardi added to his goals against Galatasaray, Angers and Nice in PSG s last three matches with a half-volley finish seven minutes in.
Angel Di Maria took Thiago Silva s cross-field pass in his stride and picked out Icardi on the edge of the six-yard box to push PSG towards a fifth successive win in all competitions.
Di Maria missed a glorious chance when played in by Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Icardi was denied by the legs of Simon Mignolet early in the second half.
But Mbappe headed home nine minutes after being introduced from the bench and then teed up Icardi for a quickfire second from close range.
Krepin Diatta had a goal ruled out for handball soon after and a bad day for Brugge got worse when Di Maria played in Mbappe, who took the ball past Mignolet and converted into the empty net.
There was still time for Mbappe to complete his hat-trick, the forward firing past Mignolet after again being teed up by Di Maria once more.
FULL TIME in Belgium
A night to remember for
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)
What does it mean? PSG on brink of last 16
PSG could have sealed a place in the knockout rounds today had Galatasaray drawn with Real Madrid. As it is, though, Tuchel s men are seven points clear of third-place Brugge and should get the job done in two weeks time when these sides face off in Paris.
Icardi continues scoring streak
Mbappe was at his clinical best in Belgium and will rightly grab the headlines, but Icardi also stepped up from the off and is proving a shrewd loan signing for Tuchel. He now has seven goals in nine Champions League matches for Inter and PSG, with each of those coming in the group stage.
Mignolet undoes good work
Mignolet produced a good save low down to deny Icardi 50 minutes in, but he undid his hard work by palming a cross straight into Mbappe s path for PSG s second goal. The French champions did not look back from that point.
What s next?
These two renew acquaintances on November 6 in Paris. Next for PSG, however, is the small matter of Le Classique against Marseille in Ligue 1 on Sunday, the same day Brugge host Belgian First Division title challengers Standard Liege.
