Paris, Nov. 12 (IANS): Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) took on Edinson Cavani's hat-trick to thrash last season's nearest finishers Monaco 4-0 and record their 13th straight victory in as many matches in French Ligue 1 football championship.
Sunday's match between last season's top two teams could not reflect anything about the past memory, as PSG have been keeping an intact winning record to start the campaign, while Monaco are in the relegation zone with seven points from 12 matches, reports Efe.
PSG didn't wait quite long for their first goal, as Cavani latched onto Neymar's cross before sidefooting home five minutes into the match. The Uruguayan striker, however, had to wait for a while as his goal was validated by Video Assistant Referee (VAR) after being initially flagged for an offside.
Cavani's second goal seven minutes later seemed to be a carbon copy of the first one. He slotted home on Moussa Diaby's left-flank cross, but that was disallowed due to Diaby's offside while being given later on through consulting to VAR.
However, VAR was not all in PSG's favour in the match, as it ruled out Julian Draxler's finish in the first half stoppage time for an offside.
Monaco, the 2017 league champions, failed to threaten their powerful opponents' goal, before adding another player to their injury-plagued list. Jordi Mboula, who replaced injured Belgian international Nacer Chadli in the first half, also limped off the pitch early in the second half.
The hosts were devastated by Cavani's third goal of the match in the 53rd minute, also assisted by Diaby on the left wing.
After the former Monaco sensational teenager Kylian Mbappe's goal was disallowed for an offside, Neymar capped the visitors' scoring night in the 64th minute by converting a spot kick won by Mbappe, who was fouled by France teammate Djibril Sidibe inside the box.
With the win, PSG see their advantage over second-placed Lille extended to 13 points. Lille were held 0-0 by Strasbourg at home on Friday.
Monaco remained second from the bottom just on superior goal difference over Guingamp.
In other League 1 action on Sunday, Center half Adil Rami propelled Marseille to a 2-0 home win over Dijon with one goal and one assist.
The World Cup winner guided Lucas Ocampos to a comfortable finish with his near-post header just before the interval, and nodded home on Kevin Strootman's overhead kick with six minutes remaining, moving Marseille to sixth with just three points from the top three.
Elsewhere, Bordeaux recorded a goalless draw with Caen while Rennes and Nantes also shared points following a 1-1 tie.
