Football
ESPN staff 7y

Neymar goal, assist in PSG debut win; Falcao propels Mbappe-less Monaco

Neymar scored a goal and provided an assist as Paris Saint-Germain defeated Guingamp 3-0 in the former Barcelona star's club debut on Sunday.

Neymar, who sensationally moved to PSG from Barcelona for a world record fee of €222 million last week, started alongside fellow South Americans Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria up front.

The Brazil No. 10's debut created an electric atmosphere in the Stade municipal de Roudourou, but expectant fans were forced to wait until the second half to see goals. And it was the home side who provided the opener, albeit for the visitors.

Neymar's through ball for Cavani was initially cut out by a lunging defender, only to see the ball fall to Jordan Ikoko, who inexplicably back-passed past goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson and into his own net in the 52nd minute.

Ten minutes later, PSG worked a goal of their own -- Neymar, working on the left, sliding a perfect through ball behind the defence for Cavani, who shaped his right-footed shot around the keeper and inside the far post.

And Neymar collected his debut strike with eight minutes to go. This time, Cavani turned provider. After dancing around a defender, the Uruguay international found a free Neymar at the goalmouth, where he side-footed into the roof of the net.

The win gives Unai Emery's men two wins from two matches in the young Ligue 1 campaign.

Radamel Falcao netted a hat trick while Kylian Mbappe watched from the bench as champions Monaco made it two wins out of two Ligue 1 games so far with a comfortable 4-1 triumph at Dijon.

Nine days on from Mbappe limping off in the 3-2 victory over Toulouse, and amid considerable speculation linking him with a move to Paris St Germain, the 18-year-old was named as a substitute for this contest by boss Leonardo Jardim.

And he remained unused as fellow forward Falcao took centre stage at the Stade Gaston Gerard.

The Colombian opened the scoring in the third minute, producing a close-range finish after Kamil Glik headed goalwards.

The visitors' advantage was subsequently doubled 22 minutes later by a wonderful Jemerson overhead kick, before Falcao added his second in the 37th minute via a curling effort from the edge of the box that may or may not have taken a slight deflection off Cedric Yambere.

Dijon pulled a goal back a minute prior to the break when Wesley Said controlled a long ball over the top and prodded neatly through Danijel Subasic's legs.

Falcao then wrapped up his treble with a powerful header six minutes after the break.

Earlier, Strasbourg secured their first top-flight win following promotion as they beat 10-man Lille 3-0 at home in a game that saw two outfield players spend time in goal for the away side.

Lille goalkeeper Mike Maignan was shown a straight red card in the 63rd minute for violent conduct having clashed with Strasbourg midfielder Benjamin Corgnet.

And with the visitors having made all three substitutions at that point, it was striker Nicolas de Preville who initially replaced Maignan in goal.

But after De Preville was beaten by Jonas Martin's low shot into the bottom corner that gave Strasbourg a 74th-minute lead, defender and captain Ibrahim Amadou then took over between the posts.

He was then unable to keep out a penalty from Dimitri Lienard in the 82nd minute and an 88th-minute strike from Jeremy Grimm.

Press Association contributed to this report.

^ Back to Top ^