Achraf Hakimi rose to the occasion, scoring a glorious hat-trick on Friday as a heavily rotated Paris Saint-Germain thumped rock-bottom Le Havre 5-1 in Ligue 1.

PSG’s nearest Ligue 1 rivals Rennes lost 5-2 at Nice to allow the champions to open a four-point gap atop the table with 20 points after nine games.

Lille host Lens later Friday and can close to within two points of PSG should they win, while Monaco can do the same if they win at Paris FC on Sunday.

Le Havre gave PSG a game early on as they suddenly surged forward in numbers with the PSG backline scampering in retreat before striker Josh Maja hammered in the opener against the run of play on 18 minutes.

Pushing for a second, Le Havre were carved open in a quick-fire move with Belgian winger Mika Godts racing onto a Hakimi through-ball to level on 26 minutes.

Make PUNCH part of your everyday experience.

Two minutes later Hakimi left the defence trailing and his blistering low drive just inside the near post made it 2-1.

The European champions were running the Normandy side ragged before Hakimi scored his second with a fierce free-kick that curled low past the ‘keeper Arnaud Bodard to put PSG 3-1 up.

On a lightning break the hosts poured everyone forward in a brave but naive effort to get back into the game, only for PSG to burst back, catching the home goalkeeper way off his line with not a single defender in his half.

Senny Mayulu ran around the horrified stopper, and his cool long-range finish hit the back of the net with nobody in the box effectively ending the contest, just after the hour.

Hakimi’s hat-trick arrived when he threaded a shot through a forest of players on 69 minutes and had hardly finished a triumphant celebration when coach Luis Enrique subbed him off.

“He’s a striker when we have the ball. He’s free to do that when we are in possession, but obliged to defend when we aren’t,” said Luis Enrique.

The Spanish coach left stars Desire Doue, Vitinha and Joao Neves on the bench while Ousmane Dembele and Georgian attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were missing through injury.

AFP