Thauvin hat-trick leads Marseille six-goal romp

Marseille (AFP) – Florian Thauvin took his season’s league goal tally to 13 with a hat-trick as Marseille enjoyed a 6-3 rout of rock-bottom Metz in French Ligue 1 on Friday.

The win moved Marseille into second place in the table, eight points behind bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain who have a game in hand and face struggling Lille on Saturday.

Marseille were 5-0 up before Metz got on the scoresheet, such was the dominance of Rudi Garcia’s men.

Morgan Sanson fired them in front after just six minutes before former Newcastle striker Thauvin hit the first of his three with a volley two minutes later.

He got the better of Metz’s Senegalese defender Fallou Diagne to score his second just before the interval and completed his hat-trick in the 56th minute after being set-up by Dimitri Payet.

Valere Germain, on the stroke of half-time, and Kostas Mitroglou added the sixth on 75 minutes, again with Payet delivering the key ground work.

Metz scored their goals in the last quarter of an hour with a Florent Mollet double and last-gasp header from Ibrahima Niane.