Mbappe scores in 8 seconds, ties French league record
Aug 21, 2022, 3:29 AM | Updated: 3:31 pm
LILLE, France (AP) — Kylian Mbappe scored after just eight seconds of play to claim the joint-fastest goal in the history of the French league on Sunday.
Mbappe found the net at the start of a 7-1 win for defending champion Paris Saint-Germain over Lille on Sunday.
The visitors needed just four passes from kickoff to score as Lionel Messi hit a superb ball over the top for Mbappe, who cleverly lobbed Lille goalkeeper Leo Jardim.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier gave credit to his technical staff and to the club’s Under-19 team.
From kickoff, Neymar played the ball back before receiving it again and passing to Messi, who spotted Mbappe’s run and had the technical brilliance to exploit it.
“Our Under-19 team did it in the youth league against Salzburg,” Galtier told a news conference. “We showed it to the players. They were OK to try it. So, we worked on it in training and it was very well executed tonight.”
The French league tweeted that Mbappe’s goal ties midfielder Michel Rio who also needed just eight seconds to score for Caen against Cannes in 1992.
French sports paper L’Equipe was more cautious, calling it the fastest goal since Rio’s with Mbappe’s goal closer to nine seconds, it said. The French league started in 1932.
Galtier was referrring to Edouard Michut’s goal in a 3-1 loss to Salzburg in the youth league in March. Michut needed 11 seconds to score according to PSG’s official website.
The French coach also said that his staff studied similar kickoff routines in the German, English and Spanish leagues, mentioning Bournemouth and Rayo Vallecano as teams that scored such goals.
Mbappe had a hat trick while Neymar scored two goals and provided three assists against Lille as PSG extended its perfect start to the season with three wins from three games.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
