Birthday boy Mbappe stars as PSG down Caen

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Kylian Mbappe celebrated his 19th birthday on Wednesday with a goal and an assist as Paris Saint-Germain cruised to a 3-1 victory over Caen in Ligue 1.

The French teenager has enjoyed a stratospheric rise in 2017 and rounded out a memorable year in style by setting up Edinson Cavani to fire PSG ahead on 21 minutes, before adding a goal of his own on the hour.

Spanish left-back Yuri Berchiche netted his first goal for the club since arriving from Real Sociedad as PSG strolled to a 10th straight home league win despite conceding a late Ivan Santini penalty.

Unai Emery’s team head into the winter break nine points clear of defending champions Monaco and Lyon, with both of those sides claiming 2-1 wins over Rennes and Toulouse respectively.

“It’s a good win to finish with 50 points, but the goal we conceded is something we want to work on after the holidays,” Emery said.

“I think the team has had a very good first half of the season,” he added. “We’ve accomplished our goals of being first in our Champions League group and being top of the league with a sizeable cushion.”

Marseille responded to losing their 12-match unbeaten run at the weekend by coming from a goal behind to defeat Troyes 3-1 at the Velodrome to stay within three points of the Champions League spots.

PSG captain Thiago Silva returned from injury at the Parc des Princes to solidify a defence without the suspended Dani Alves and Presnel Kimpembe, while Neymar shrugged off a bout of illness that forced him to miss training on Tuesday.

Mbappe, sporting dyed white hair for his birthday, was instrumental as PSG surged in front in the first half.