TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) -Joao Neves netted a brilliant hat-trick as French champions Paris St Germain secured a crushing 6-3 Ligue 1 victory at Toulouse on Saturday in a match involving three penalties.
Portuguese midfielder Neves opened the scoring in the seventh minute, pouncing on a loose ball before taking a touch and firing a stunning overhead kick into the top corner.
Bradley Barcola doubled the visitors lead two minutes later, racing on to a through ball before drilling home a low finish from a tight angle.
Neves then chested down a cross before acrobatically sending the ball into the bottom corner from close range as PSG scored three times within the opening quarter of an hour of a competitive match for the first time in their history.
Ousmane Dembele converted from the spot after Rasmus Nicolaisen brought down Desire Doue to make it 4-0 after 31 minutes.
Toulouse pulled one back eight minutes before the break when PSG keeper Lucas Chevalier spilled a rebound straight to Charlie Cresswell who pounced to finish.
Chevalier redeemed himself in first-half stoppage time, however, denying Cristian Casseres Jr. from the spot twice after the initial kick was ordered to be retaken.
PSG’s fifth goal arrived in the 51st minute as Dembele converted his second spot-kick after Djibril Sidibe fouled Barcola.
Neves crowned his performance in style after 78 minutes, seizing a loose ball at the edge of the area and thundering a strike into the top-right corner to complete his hat-trick.
Toulouse grabbed late consolations through Yann Gboho and Alexis Vossah, but PSG comfortably closed out the win.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)
