With a rampant 6-1 victory over Clermont, Paris Saint-Germain stretched their lead at the Ligue 1 summit to 15 points. The win extended Mauricio Pochettino’s side’s phenomenal record against bottom half French top-tier sides to 14 wins from 15 in the ongoing domestic campaign.The Parisians asserted their authority on proceedings inside the opening five minutes – making the Ligue 1 title so close you can smell it. Lionel Messi was the calmest man in Clermont as the ball cannoned around the edge of the area, the Argentine twisted and slipped Neymar in on goal and the Brazilian finished in a great manner. The Ligue 1 table-toppers soon added a second – Messi was the creator-in-chief again and this time it was Kylian Mbappé who he found to serve the finishing blow.However, before the break, Clermont manufactured themselves a lifeline. The architect was Saîf-Eddine Khaoui, he rolled the ball across the goal box line to leave Jodel Dossou with the simplest of tasks to tap home from close-range.Shortly after the break, PSG thought they had re-established their two-goal advantage but the assistant raised his flag for an offside in the build-up to annul a free-flowing move finished off by Messi.But the Saints weren’t done. Thanks to Johan Gastien’s rash nature in the area, Mbappé was fouled and it allowed Neymar to stroke a penalty home and make it his second goal of the night. PSG’s superstar kept on giving – both Mbappé and Neymar completed their hat-tricks to complete the rout with Messi adding his third assist of the evening.With this victory, some pressure on Pochettino eased up as he avoided the ill-fated record of becoming the first PSG manager to lose four successive top-flight away games since the Qatari-backed era began in 2011/12. PSG inched closer to the famous tenth Ligue 1 title while Clermont have to fend off the advances of more than just Saint-Étienne in the coming weeks.LIGUE 1 – ROUND 31FridayLorient – Saint-Etienne 6-2 (2-2)/Moffi 42 pen, 86, Kone 45+1, 65, Le Fee 61, Boisgard 89 – Bouanga 4, Nordin 22/SaturdayReims – Rennes 2-3 (0-2)/Busi 60, Cajuste 81 pen – Bourigeaud 39, 43, Terrier 58/Clermont – PSG 1-6 (1-2)/Dossou 43 – Neymar 6, 71 pen, 83, Mbappe 19, 74, 81/Sunday14:00: (2.05) Bordeaux (3.50) Metz (3.90)16:00: (3.60) Angers (3.15) Lille (2.30)16:00: (2.60) Brest (3.05) Nantes (3.15)16:00: (1.37) Monaco (5.10) Troyes (10.0)18:05: (2.45) Lens (3.30) Nice (3.15)20:00: (2.55) Strasbourg (3.30) Olympique Lyon (3.00)22:00: (1.53) Olympique Marseille (4.20) Montpellier (7.25)***odds are subject to change***
