During the away trip to Orléans in the round of 16 of the French National Cup on the morning of January 21, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) launched a strong squad with many “stars”. In particular, coach Luis Enrique arranged all four of the best attacking players he had, Asensio, Kolo Muani, Ramos and Mbappe, to start.

With superior class, PSG dominated the game right after the opening whistle, but it wasn’t until the 16th minute that they scored the opening goal. In this situation, receiving Kolo Muani’s pass, Mbappe gently cushioned the ball in the penalty area and scored, giving the away team a 1-0 lead.

Mbappe had his fingerprints on all 4 of PSG’s goals

After Mbappe’s opening goal, PSG faced many difficulties with Orléans’ death-defying style, so they were powerless to score more goals in the first half. PSG had to wait until the 63rd minute to widen the gap. This time, Mbappe continued to cause a breakthrough when he passed the opponent’s hand in the penalty area, then scored a penalty to double the gap.

Mbappe increased his scoring record from the beginning of the 2023-2024 season for PSG to 28 goals in 26 matches in all competitions. At the French National Cup, the 25-year-old striker had 5 goals in 2 matches, including a hat-trick in the 9-0 win over 6th-ranked team Revel in the previous round.

After the second goal, Orleans showed signs of giving up. PSG only needed to play 9 more minutes to increase the score to 3-0. This time, Mbappe crossed just enough for Goncalo Ramos to rush in and head into the home team’s net.

With nothing left to lose after being conceded 3 times, Orléans was forced to abandon the deep defensive style and push the attacking formation higher. Their risk paid off in the 86th minute thanks to Saint-Ru’s goal that shortened the score to 1-3.

However, PSG sealed a 4-1 victory just 2 minutes later. Mbappe continued to leave his mark when he assisted Senny Mayulu to lob the ball past the opponent’s goalkeeper. Easily surpassing Orléans, PSG won 1/8 of the French National Cup, a tournament where they are king with 14 championships (the most), but have not reached the top since the 2020-2021 season.

Besides the French National Cup, PSG also leads Ligue 1, 8 points ahead of second-place team Nice. On February 14, Mbappe and his teammates will host Sociedad in the first leg of the 1/8 round of the Champions League.