France skipper Kylian Mbappé prepared for international duties against Germany and Chile with a dazzling hat trick on Sunday night for Paris Saint-Germain in their 6-2 romp at Montpellier.
On a collective level, the annihilation took the champions 12 points clear of Brest with 12 games remaining.
On a personal note, the 25-year-old's triple advanced him to 250 goals for PSG since joining from Monaco in 2017. The strikes also moved him up to eighth in the all-time scorer's charts for the French top flight.
Mbappé's 188 goals in Ligue 1 have come in 241 games over nine years. Fleury Di Niallo – the man he supplanted – required 15 seasons and 425 matches to reach 187.
Barring a horrific injury, Mbappé will eclipse seventh-placed Joseph Ujlaki's mark of 190 goals over 15 years and 438 fixtures and could even surpass Roger Piantoni's haul of 203 between 1950 and 1966 in 394 games before he formally announces the open secret of his move to Real Madrid.
"There's not much more to say about Kylian's goal-scoring abilities," said PSG boss Luis Enrique after the mauling at Montpellier.
"What we've got to do is simply make the most of him while he is with us and if the day comes that he's no longer here, everyone will just have to raise their level to compensate for his absence."
Options
As he awaits the arrival of his 23-man squad at the French Football Federation's Clairefontaine training on centre Monday, France boss Didier Deschamps has no such qualms as he ponders his options in the leafy tranquility some 45 kilometres south of central Paris.
Even before he was anointed captain, Mbappé's and Antoine Griezmann's were among the first names Deschamps inked onto the team sheet.
The pair will be the usual spearhead for the friendlies in Lyon and Marseille respectively. They are also likely to parade in the final selection for the European championships in June and July in Germany.
La 1ère liste de l’année 2024 est connue 📝
— Equipe de France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) March 14, 2024
Les prochains matchs des Bleus :
🇨🇵🇩🇪 (samedi 23 à Lyon)
🇨🇵🇨🇱 (mardi 26 à Marseille)#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/bH6EYGxkF9
However, Olivier Giroud, a stalwart of the surge to the 2018 World Cup crown and the final in 2022, faces threats to his place in the starting line-up from Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram.
Deschamps will pick his midfield from Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelién Tchouaméni as well as PSG's teenage wunderkind Warren Zaïre-Emery. With 25-year-old Youssouf Fofana also in the mix, Juventus' Adrien Rabiot at 28 limbers up as the veteran.
Mike Maignan, who was in action on Sunday night for AC Milan after recovering from an injury sustained during the Europa League clash at Slavia Prague, is likely to retain his berth as goalkeeper.
