Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Marseille: Icardi and Mbappe punish visitors in one-sided Classique

Paris, October 28: Mauro Icardi and Kylian Mbappe both scored twice in the first half as Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Marseille 4-0 in Sunday's Ligue 1 clash.

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Free-scoring PSG had reeled off five wins in a row in all competitions heading into the first Classique of the season and made light work of seeing off their rivals.

The reigning French champions scored all four goals before half-time thanks to clinical doubles from Icardi and Mbappe in the space of 34 devastating minutes at Parc des Princes.

Edinson Cavani was brought on in the second half for his first appearance since August, but PSG - now eight points clears of closest challengers Nantes at the top of the table - could not add to their tally of 17 goals in their last four matches.

Valere Germain failed to make the most of a good chance early on and, less than a minute later, Icardi converted a rebound at the other end after his initial header was parried by Steve Mandanda.

Icardi was denied by Mandanda when played through by an exquisite flick from Mbappe, but the on-loan striker got to Marco Verratti's floated delivery ahead of the Marseille keeper three minutes later to double his tally.

Despite the best efforts from Mandanda, who produced another fine save to thwart Mbappe from a one-on-one, PSG further extended their advantage through the France forward's tap-in after being teed up by Angel Di Maria.

The home side's fourth goal arrived before half-time, Mbappe rounding off a swift counter with a shot from the edge of the box that Mandanda was unable to keep out.

Mbappe spurned his big chance for back-to-back hat-tricks when firing wide 19 minutes from time, while Leandro Paredes had a free-kick saved as Marseille managed to keep down the scoring.

What does it mean? PSG in a league of their own

Marseille boss Andre Villas-Boas said in the build-up to this match that PSG are "in another league" to the rest of their top-flight rivals due to their financial strength.

On the basis of this victory, and a run of nine wins from 11 to begin the campaign, there can be little disputing those comments.

Mbappe makes his point

Mbappe scored a second-half hat-trick as a substitute against Club Brugge in midweek and later admitted to being frustrated at not starting the 5-0 Champions League win.

The France forward is now fully over his recent injury issues and marked his return to the starting line-up with another couple of goals, making it six in his last three matches.

Germain miss proves costly

Had Marseille forward Germain scored the chance that fell his way at 0-0, it may have been a different story in the French capital.

As it was, he fired his first-time shot wide of the target after being picked out by Dimitri Payet and his side were four goals down in the blink of an eye.

What's next?

Marseille are in Coupe de la Ligue action at Monaco on Wednesday (October 30), while PSG head to Dijon on Friday (November 1) for their next Ligue 1 match.