Paris-Saint-Germain, the Ligue 1 champions, beat Lens, the runners-up from the previous season, 3-1, on Saturday thanks in large part to the dominance of Kylian Mbappe in his first home start of the year.
PSG firmly got their season back on track in a matchup between two clubs who had lost their first two league games.
With the win, they moved up to fourth place, two points behind leaders Monaco after their Friday draw and Marseille after their early Saturday triumph.
Making his first home start after being brought back to the squad after a contract disagreement, Mbappe immediately presented a danger.
Before Marco Asensio scored his first goal for the team in the 44th minute of the first half, he had two shots saved by goalkeeper Brice Samba and one cleared off the line by Kevin Danso.
Vitinha, a Portuguese midfielder for PSG, advanced across the field before passing to Warren Zaire-Emery, who then found Asensio right beyond the penalty area. The Spanish player curled a shot off the base of the post with his left foot.
After 51 minutes, Mbappe scored a fierce second, firing a first-time side-foot effort from the outside of the box past Samba after receiving a feed back from Lucas Hernandez.
As PSG controlled possession, Mbappe forced Samba to make another excellent stop.
Elye Wahi, the club’s record signing, entered the game after 57 minutes and, in a rare Lens counterattack, outran the opposition defense and caused Gianluigi Donnarumma to make a sprawling save.
Ousmane Dembele missed a chance to score his first goal for PSG while making his debut appearance after joining from Barcelona.
In the last minute, Mbappe scored a second goal with a shot from close to the penalty spot that deflected twice before going in.
Prior to Morgan Guilavogui scoring with the last kick of the game, when PSG’s defense relaxed, Wahi forced Donnarumma to make another flying save. Morgan’s effort was deflected in by Milan Skriniar.
Earlier, Marseille moved up to second position after a lackluster 2-0 victory over visiting Brest ended their winning season.
Panathinaikos eliminated Marseille from the Champions League in the third qualifying round at the beginning of the month, giving Marseille’s reconstructed team only one week to be ready.
After three minutes, Chancel Mbemba headed in a perfect free kick from Jordan Veretout to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
Brest, who had started the season with two victories, controlled the second half but missed several opportunities.
The summer’s new Marseille coach Marcelino commented, “In the first half we weren’t organized properly, we lost too many balls, and Brest were better.”
Vitinha’s arrival off the bench boosted Marseille, who increased their advantage after 65 minutes.
Ismaila Sarr scored for the first goal since leaving Watford in the summer when he connected with a cross from Renan Lodi.
Veretout and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang both had two excellent opportunities from Vitinha, but the latter blew both of them.
“It got better in the second half, and after the second goal, we were the Marseille we want to be,” remarked Marcelino. “I’d be concerned if we had been bad the entire time.”