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Paris Saint-Germain got their post-Kylian Mbappé era off a winning start Friday by beating Le Havre 4-1 in their Ligue 1 opener.
However, the scoreline was more comfortable than the performance suggested, with PSG’s last three goals coming in the final five minutes.
The Paris club have dominated French soccer with 10 league titles in the last 12 seasons but are rebuilding after Mbappé left to join Real Madrid in the summer.
They have one of the youngest squads in the league this season and are betting a new generation can take on more responsibility in Mbappé’s absence.
“It wasn’t easy at all,” PSG boss Luis Enrique told reporters about the win. “Maybe we started too calmly. We scored a goal very quickly and that relaxed us a bit too much.”
They started Friday’s match with home-grown 16-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye on the left wing and took the lead after only three minutes thanks to a goal from 23-year-old South Korean forward Lee Kang-in.
PSG suffered a blow when Gonçalo Ramos was injured in a challenge and had to be replace by Randal Kolo Muani in the 20th minute.
“I’m not a doctor but I think it looks like a serious injury. I don’t know how many weeks he will be out,” Luis Enrique said.
Kolo Muani almost had an immediate impact, hitting the bar after 25 minutes, but when a second goal came it was at the other end.
Gautier Lloris, brother of France’s World Cup winning goalkeeper Hugo, equalized after 48 minutes and only a video review stopped the hosts from taking the lead after Josué Casimir hit the net five minutes later.
PSG piled on the pressure as the match went on but it wasn’t until the 85th minute that Ousmane Dembélé headed the visitors in front again.
The 21-year-old Bradley Barcola got the third a minute later and Kolo Muani added a fourth from the penalty spot in the final minute of the match. Another youngster, 19-year-old João Neves, claimed two assists.
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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