Kylian Mbappe watched his teammates struggle in the first half and then came off the bench to score as French league leader Paris Saint-Germain won 2-0 at bitter rival Marseille on Sunday.
Angel Di Maria, who grabbed PSG's injury-time equalizer on Wednesday in a 2-2 home draw with Napoli in the Champions League, set up Mbappe with a threaded pass behind the defense in the 65th minute. The France forward sprinted clear before drilling a low shot into the bottom left corner for his 10th league goal in seven games.
Mbappe then helped create the second by finding Neymar with a pass behind the defense, and the Brazil forward's scuffed shot landed perfectly for Julian Draxler to slide home at the back post five minutes into injury time.
It was defending champion PSG's 11th straight league win — matching English side Tottenham's run from the start of the 1960-61 season— and kept the team eight points ahead of second-place Lille. Marseille drifted 14 points behind in fifth spot.
Marseille strangely played without a recognized center forward, yet had the better of the first-half chances at Stade Velodrome as PSG looked tame in attack without Mbappe.
Still, PSG almost scored just before halftime when Di Maria's shot was cleared off the line by midfielder Kevin Strootman.
At the start of the second half, some Marseille fans threw objects at Neymar when he took a corner from the left, but he did not seem unduly perturbed and took it anyway as some stewards formed a shield around him.
PSG goalkeeper Alphonse Areola made a good save to keep out midfielder Dimitri Payet's free kick early in the second half, and saved again from left back Jordan Amavi's dipping shot from the edge of the penalty area shortly after Mbappe's goal.
OTHER MATCHES
Midfielder Wylan Cyprien's first goal of the season helped Patrick Vieira's Nice to a much-needed 1-0 win at Bordeaux.
Cyprien scored in the 54th minute after being set up by pacey winger Allan Saint-Maximin. Bordeaux then hit the crossbar and Nice goalkeeper Walter Benitez made a brilliant injury-time save to keep out a header from forward Andreas Cornelius.
Vieira, a standout midfielder for France and Arsenal during his playing days, took charge this summer. His team has been inconsistent, with striker Mario Balotelli lacking match fitness and yet to find the net this season after scoring 18 league goals last season and 15 the season before.
The win moved Nice up to 10th place after 11 matches, behind Reims on goal difference.
Forward Remi Oudin also netted his first goal of the campaign as Reims won 2-0 at Rennes.