Paris (AFP)

Before the holidays, make way for young people!

Paris SG defeated Strasbourg (4-0) on Wednesday with a goal of his + titi + Timothée Pembélé, to finish 2020 in third place in Ligue 1.

At 18, for his fifth pro match, Pembélé picked up a ball repelled by Eiji Kawashima on a strike from Angel Di Maria (18th), and scored his first goal as a Christmas present before the hour.

Rather accustomed to playing in central defense, the + titi + of the Parisian training center perfectly seized the opportunity offered to him by Thomas Tuchel, by establishing him right back in a 5-3-2 which allowed the side to go up on the phases offensive.

Paris finished with a high score, with goals late in the game from Kylian Mbappé (80th), Idrissa Gueye (88th), and Moise Kean (90th).

And here is the PSG which can take a well-deserved vacation after a grueling year 2020, after 46 matches in competition and an ultra-dense schedule which has led to a massacre of injuries for the vice-champion of Europe.

Thomas Tuchel will be content with that, especially since he did not have to make any premature changes as he has too often been forced to do this season.

- Strasbourg suffers -

And even with a largely overhauled team, with the trifle of ten absent, the French champion left no chance in Strasbourg, in the fight for maintenance.

Sign of their domination, the Parisians had 69% possession of the ball.

By relegating his striker Habib Diallo to the bench in a solid 5-4-1 pattern, Strasbourg coach Thierry Laurey especially wanted to avoid a defeat in Racing, which never won at the Parc des Princes.

Wasted effort.

Apart from a great opportunity in the second half, when the strike from substitute Sanjin Prcic narrowly missed the target (75th), the Alsatians quickly gave up possession and suffered.

And also quickly cracked, despite a defense much less feverish than usual.

Goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima has repeatedly avoided the worst.

The Japanese performed a parade at close range (13th) in front of Angel Di Maria, perfectly served by Kylian Mbappé.

Then he worked again on a superb curled strike from Rafinha (39th), controlled extremely narrowly and in two stages.

Mohamed Simakan also managed two high-class rescues, an impeccable slipped tackle in front of Mbappé (26th) to stop a Parisian offensive, and a clearance in front of the goal line (44th) of a dangerous ball, again for Mbappé.

- Final festival -

A good defense which has long prevented PSG from killing the match.

With a little luck for Strasbourg, when on a Parisian corner Ludovic Ajorque narrowly avoided scoring against his camp (36th).

And a lot of clumsiness from Mbappé.

The Parisian scorer missed many chances: too short for Di Maria's crosses (31st, 33rd), too low to head back to a Rafinha cross (61st), or too imprecise to find the frame with a trailing ball in the box (60th).

But the indestructible + Kyky + ended up making the break, and taking care of his lead in the scorers classification (12 goals), by pushing the ball into the empty goal (80th) after a good job from Di Maria.

And the replacements participated in the festival.

Gueye scored powerfully, with a missile from outside the box (88th), and Kean sealed the final score in added time.

© 2020 AFP