Paris Saint-Germain’s French striker Kylian Mbappe cheers on supporters at the end of a ceremony after becoming Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time top scorer with his 201st goal for the club in their 4-4 win -2 in the French L1 football match against FC Nantes. at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on March 4, 2023. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / POOL / AFP)
PARIS, France (AP) — Kylian Mbappe became Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time top scorer with his 201st goal for the club as the Ligue 1 leaders prepared for their decisive visit to Bayern Munich with a 4-2 win over Nantes on Saturday.
The France superstar had equaled Edinson Cavani’s previous record of 200 goals with a brace in last week’s win in Marseille and went one better by scoring in stoppage time at the Parc des Princes.
PSG had earlier blown a two-goal lead, with Lionel Messi putting them ahead and a Jaouen Hadjam own goal making it 2-0 inside 17 minutes before Nantes fought back to level.
Ludovic Blas pulled one back for the visitors and Ignatius Ganago equalized, but Mbappe set up Danilo Pereira to put PSG back in front on the hour mark and then scored his record late goal.
Mbappé reached the record in just 247 appearances since signing from Monaco aged 18 in 2017.
Uruguayan star Cavani needed 298 games and seven years to set the previous record in 2020.
The 24-year-old Mbappe was presented with a club trophy after the game to set his record for an on-pitch presentation.
“I play to make history and I have always said that I wanted to make history in France, in the capital of my country, in my city, and I am doing it. It’s great, but there’s still a lot to do,” Mbappé, who finished the game as captain, told Canal Plus.
“For me, as a native Parisian, this is special. If someone had told me that he would score the record-breaking goal with the captain’s armband, I would not have believed it.”
The result saw PSG open an 11-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 before nearest rivals Marseille play on Sunday, and before the Qatar-owned club go to Bayern for the second leg. of the round of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.
PSG lose 1-0 from the first leg against the Bavarians and the fact of not advancing to the quarterfinals in Europe would put a significant brake on the end of their season.
Hakimi watches from stands
Injured Moroccan star Achraf Hakimi watched from the stands of the Parc des Princes a day after being accused of rape following allegations made by a 24-year-old woman.
Neymar was also a spectator and will not return for the match against Bayern, while centre-back Presnel Kimpembe will miss the rest of the season with an Achilles tendon injury.
Manager Christophe Galtier lost two more defenders to injury in the second half against Nantes, and captain Marquinhos and substitute right-back Nordi Mukiele had to come off.
Before the game there was a minute of applause for Just Fontaine, the legendary former France striker who scored 13 goals in the 1958 World Cup and who died on Wednesday at the age of 89.
Fontaine also coached PSG, which led to their promotion to the top flight of French football in 1974.
The Parisians took the lead in the 12th minute, with Messi converting a deflected low cross from Nuno Mendes to score his 13th Ligue 1 goal this season.
An unfortunate own goal from Hadjam had PSG sailing, but a shot from Blas that stunned Gianluigi Donnarumma after half an hour brought Nantes back into the game and a header from Cameroonian striker Ganago made it 2-2 before half-time.
PSG had also squandered a two-goal lead in their last home match against Lille a fortnight ago before rallying to win 4-3, and they repeated the feat here with Mbappé starring.
His assist was headed in by Danilo to make it 3-2 just before the hosts were awarded a penalty for a foul on Mukiele, only for a VAR check to rule the contact had occurred outside the box.
It looked like Mbappe would have to wait for his record before hitting right at the end with a turn finish.
Earlier, Lens missed the chance to climb above Marseille to second place, drawing 1-1 at home to northern rivals Lille, for whom Canadian star Jonathan David tied.
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