Mbappe stars again for PSG

PARIS (AP):

Left out by his coach for disciplinary reasons, Kylian Mbappe watched his team-mates struggle in the first half and then came off the bench to score as French league leaders Paris Saint-Germain won 2-0 at rivals Marseille yesterday.

Angel Di Maria, who grabbed PSG's injury-time equaliser on Wednesday in a 2-2 home draw with Napoli in the Champions League, set up Mbappe with a threaded pass behind the defence in the 65th minute. The France World Cup star sprinted clear before drilling a low shot into the bottom left corner for his 10th league goal in seven games.

He found the net just four minutes after coming on, justifying his importance in an attack, which has plundered 39 goals in 11 games.

"A big team needs leaders and they need to make the difference," said Mbappe defiantly, after being dropped by coach Thomas Tuchel because he was late for the pre-match team talk. "I think I can fulfill that role."

Tuchel stood by his decision to bench Mbappe and midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who was also late for the talk.

"(It was) a disciplinary situation," the German coach said on Canal Plus television, confirming what happened. "We needed to do that."

Mbappe helped create the second goal by finding Neymar with a pass behind the defence, and the Brazil forward's scuffed shot landed perfectly for Julian Draxler to slide home at the back post five minutes into injury time.

It was defending champion PSG's 11th straight league win - matching English side Tottenham's run from the start of the 1960-61 season - and kept the team eight points ahead of second-place Lille.

Marseille are 14 points behind in fifth spot.