Paris St Germain manager Thomas Tuchel hailed his side’s victory over Lille as their best performance of the season.
PSG set a new European record on Friday night by recording their 12th consecutive win since the beginning of the season after Kylian Mbappe and Neymar both struck in a 2-1 win.
The Ligue 1 table-toppers now face Napoli in the Champions League next week, and Tuchel believes their victory against Lille – which extends their title lead to 11 points – puts them in the right frame of mind ahead of their trip to Italy.
“I think it was our best match this season,” Tuchel was quoted as saying in L’Equipe.
“It was necessary against this opponent and it will also be necessary on Tuesday night. Napoli have a different style and it will be a big challenge.
“The team is confident after this game. It was necessary to play with a lot of quality and we did.
“It was a wonderful performance. There was a lot of structure, possession of the ball, we closed the spaces. We were very serious, very disciplined and we have to congratulate my team.”
After winning at Marseille and equalling Tottenham’s 58-year-old record with the best start to a European season by any side in the top five leagues, PSG went one better at the Parc des Princes.
Following strong resistance by second-placed Lille, France international Mbappe broke the deadlock with 20 minutes remaining. Neymar then got his name on the scoresheet before there was a consolation strike by Lille’s Nicolas Pepe from the penalty spot in stoppage time.
“Paris was really so strong that we only had two or three seconds to catch our breath,” Lille manager Christophe Galtier added.
“We knew the individual, technical and transition quality of this team, and they strove to choke us as soon as they lost the ball, to hurry us. We were suffocated.
“Tonight, they were on top, so automatically we could not produce as we usually do. We tried to defend well, but that is not enough. Paris prevented us from developing the game.”
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