French connection strikes as PSG beat AC Milan to go top

Paris: Another Kylian Mbappe moment of magic and a Randal Kolo Muani goal helped Paris St Germain beat a toothless AC Milan 3-0 at the Parc des Princes to go top of their Champions League Group F on Wednesday.

France forward Mbappe broke the deadlock with a clever low shot before the break, before Kolo Muani doubled the advantage in the second half after some fine play by their national team partner Ousmane Dembele.

Lee Kang-in added a third in the last minute for good measure.

"It's team work, we enjoyed playing together," said 17-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery.

"We play as a team, we make the efforts for our team mates, that's how we do it."

Kolo Muani said: "We wanted to control the match and go for the win. After the break we managed to put the result beyond doubt. It gives us confidence for the games to come."

While it was not an easy affair in the first half, Luis Enrique's side prevailed to be on six points from three games, two ahead of Borussia Dortmund who claimed a 1-0 win at Newcastle United.

AC Milan, who have now failed to score in five consecutive Champions League games and netted only once in their last four competitive matches, are bottom of the group on two points.

"We played the first half we wanted, but we couldn't do that in the second half. We lacked a cutting edge in the box and after the break we made mistakes that cost us dearly. We need to put our heads back on our shoulders," said Milan's Olivier Giroud.

PSG got off to an aggressive start but were outnumbered in the midfield and struggled to free themselves from Milan's pressing play.

They managed once, however, to take the upper hand in the midfield when Zaire-Emery powered through to find Mbappe, who beat his defender and found the back of the net with a low shot into the corner on 32 minutes.

Ousmane Dembele celebrated what he thought was his first goal with PSG, but his effort was ruled out for a preceding foul by Manuel Ugarte.

Dembele did not give up, however, and he then created Kolo Muani's goal five minutes later as his shot was deflected by Milan keeper Mike Maignan into the path of his compatriot, who slotted it into the empty net.

Milan threatened at times, notably through Christian Pulisic, but Gianluigi Donnarumma was on a good day, also tipping Rafael Leao's effort away to keep a clean sheet.

Mbappe had another couple of chances but was twice denied by Maignan, who showed his best side to make two great saves.

Lee then netted his first PSG goal in the last minute when he connected with a Zaire-Emery cut back as the French Under-21 midfielder completed a man-of-the-match performance.

PSG next travel on Nov. 7 to Milan, who will need what would be their first win in the group stage to maintain their hopes of reaching the knockout phase.

Borussia will host Newcastle looking to put their opponents three points behind them in the table.