The key facts

  • Hakimi scored a hat-trick in PSG's 5:1 win over Le Havre
  • Rennes lost 2:5 to Nice, extending PSG's lead to four points
  • Luis Enrique rotated the squad: Doué, Vitinha and João Neves were left on the bench

Hakimi's hat-trick and a rout in Le Havre

Achraf Hakimi scored a hat-trick in a Ligue 1 match in which Paris Saint-Germain thrashed bottom-placed Le Havre 5:1 on Friday, AFP reports. The champions fielded a heavily rotated lineup: coach Luis Enrique left Désiré Doué, Vitinha and João Neves on the bench, while Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia missed the match through injury.

Course of the match

Le Havre offered resistance early on: in the 18th minute striker Josué Casimir opened the scoring with a strike, although the game was not going his side's way. The hosts were then quickly broken down: in the 26th minute Mika Godts finished off a pass from Hakimi, and two minutes later the Moroccan himself fired low into the near corner — 2:1. PSG's third goal came from Hakimi, who struck a powerful low free-kick past goalkeeper Arnaud Bodart. An hour into the game, Senny Mayulu beat the goalkeeper, who had come far off his line, in a counter-attack with no defenders left in his own half, making it 4:1. Hakimi completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute, after which the coach immediately substituted him.

Table and squad rotation

The defeat of the closest chasers — Rennes, who lost 2:5 in Nice — allowed PSG to pull four points clear: after nine rounds the team have 20 points. Lille, in their evening match against Lens, and Monaco, away at Paris FC on Sunday, could cut the gap to two points. After the game, Enrique explained Hakimi's role: 'When we have the ball, he is a forward. He is free to do that when we are in possession, but he must defend when we don't have the ball,' AFP quotes the coach as saying.