Striker says \u2018happy to get started again\u2019 after guiding club to thumping 4-0 win over Vannes
\n PARIS
\nKylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain overcame their Covid crisis and a drone-related interruption to ease into the French Cup last 16 on Monday with a 4-0 win over fourth-division Vannes.
\nDespite the absence of five PSG players including superstar Lionel Messi and Danilo after positive tests for Covid-19, Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s side was never worried by the Brittany minnows.
\nDefender Presnel Kimpembe, wearing the captain\u2019s armband, headed in after 28 minutes just after the match had been interrupted for a minute after a drone flew over the Rabine Stadium in western France.
\nKimpembe then set up Mbappe for the second just before the hour mark with the French forward completing a hat-trick in an 18-minute spell.
\nMbappe added a second after 71 minutes after good work from Marco Verratti and Xavi Simons adding a third six minutes later for his 150th goal in a PSG jersey.
\n\u201cI\u2019m happy to get started again,\u201d said World Cup winner Mbappe.
\n\u201cIt was not an easy match for us to play, but we were there.\u201d
\nPochettino added: \u201cWe can be happy with our team performance, very solid. His (Mbappe) goals were the icing on the cake. He is a top player in the world.
\n\u201cWe made a few adjustments at half-time, including the positioning of the midfielders. It allowed us to be more fluid in the flow of the ball, and to find depth.\u201d
\nVannes\u2019 Cup dream was over with the Brittany side also missing out on their hoped-for bonanza after the French government\u2019s crowd restrictions with 5,000 spectators only permitted at outdoor events.
\nVannes had been hoping for a 9,600 sell-out and according to their president, Maxime Ray is set to miss out on revenue of 250,000 euros ($282,000).
\n\u201cWe are missing out on what is a fortune to us,\u201d he said.
\nCovid could also overshadow Tuesday\u2019s Lens versus Lille Cup clash with seven players from the visiting team confirmed positive.
\n\u201cWe had four Covid cases which have now become seven,\u201d said Lille coach Jocelyn Gourvennec, without naming the players.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to re-test all the players tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.\u201d
\nMonday\u2019s drone incident was another in a series of problems French football has had since the start of the 2021\/22 season.
\nSunday\u2019s Cup match between fourth-division Jura Sud and Saint-Etienne, in Louhans, was interrupted for about 20 minutes due to smoke and fireworks launched by supporters of the Greens.
\nJura Sud goalkeeper Cedric Mensah described his shock on Monday after crowd trouble \u201ccut the legs\u201d of his team in a 4-1 French Cup defeat to Ligue 1 outfit Saint-Etienne.
\n\u201cI heard a powerful bang and felt a pain in my right ear. I had the impression that a bomb had exploded and felt the pitch vibrate,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe doctor explained to me that if it had exploded closer, I could have pierced my eardrum. At the time, it really shook me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Striker says \u2018happy to get started again\u2019 after guiding club to thumping 4-0 win over Vannes PARIS Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain overcame their Covid crisis and a drone-related interruption to ease into the French Cup last 16 on Monday with a 4-0 win over fourth-division Vannes. Despite the absence of five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-236884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n