Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain clinched the Ligue 1 title with a narrow 2-1 win over Auxerre.
The France captain fired a boost in the opening eight minutes at the Stade de l’Abbe-Deschamps, who responded through Lassine Sinayoko in the second half.
Reigning champions PSG subsequently regained their six-point cushion at the Ligue 1 summit and need just one point from their last two games to successfully defend their crown.
Meanwhile, 16th-placed Auxerre remain just a point above the relegation zone after suffering their first defeat in eight home games.
Mbappe broke the deadlock in the sixth minute, latching on to Fabian Ruiz’s pass and superbly turning and deflecting away from his marker before firing into the top corner.
The France captain doubled his side’s advantage two minutes later when he bent first-time with a brilliant effort from 20 yards after Hugo Ekitike had neatly played in Lionel Messi’s pass.
Messi also went close for the visitors when he fired straight at Ionut Radu, but it wasn’t all one-way traffic as the home side threatened through Rayan Raveloson who rattled the crossbar from 25 yards.
Auxerre pulled a goal back seven minutes after the restart. Nuno da Costa headed Radu’s long goal kick into the path of Sinayoko, who raced past the defense before slotting past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Mbappe appeared to find his hat-trick late on in injury time, only for VAR to overrule his finish, but the PSG side held on regardless to edge closer to another triumph.
Paris Saint-Germain player ratings (3-4-1-2)
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma – 7/10 – Seemed to flop over the ball when Sinayoko struck. Did make some stunning and important saves to keep PSG’s lead in tact.
CB: Marquinhos – 7/10 – Had a couple of clumsy clearances but was often the defender arriving late to clear up the danger.
CB: Sergio Ramos – 6/10 – Beaten by Da Costa in the build-up to Auxerre’s goal but repelled most of what was thrown at him and his defence.
CB: Danilo Pereira – 7/10 – Only misplaced two of his 90 passes. Tried to pepper the ball into the final third with varying levels of success.
RWB: Warren Zaire-Emery – 6/10 – Fairly quiet as Hakimi’s replacement on the right.
CM: Marco Verratti – 8/10 – One crucial challenge prevented Auxerre pulling another back. Made three tackles in the middle of the park.
CM: Fabian Ruiz – 7/10 – Prodded the ball forward to Mbappe to open the scoring. Disruptive in the tackle.
LWB: Juan Bernat – /10 – Enjoyed a couple of surging runs in the second half, though wasn’t overly comfortable runnings towards his own goal.
AM: Lionel Messi – 6/10 – Grabbed an assist for Mbappe’s second. Looked a bit lonely out there and didn’t help himself with a rather passive display otherwise.
ST: Hugo Ekitike – 6/10 – Nice awareness to leave the ball for Mbappe but just had a couple of gilt-edge chances go begging elsewhere.
ST: Kylian Mbappe – 9/10 – Mbappe’s early goals sealed the win and he might have got a few more on another day had the service been better.
Substitutes
Vitinha (55′ for Eikitike) – 6/10 – Rarely misplaced a pass but Auxerre enjoyed more possession which Vitinha couldn’t prevent.
Renato Sanches (79′ for Ruiz) – N/A
Manager
Christophe Galtier – 6/10 – Could have put the game to bed earlier but saw his side sit back and protect instead. Attacking efforts seemed to be little more than ‘give it to Mbappe’, which isn’t the worst tactic in the world.