PARIS (AP) — After launching the career of World Cup superstar Kylian Mbappé, French club Monaco may have found another gem in Eliesse Ben Seghir.
The 17-year-old midfielder came off the bench to score twice — including an Mbappé-style winner — in his league debut to help Monaco win 3-2 at Auxerre on Wednesday.
Mbappé was starting for Paris Saint-Germain later with the unbeaten league leader hosting Strasbourg.
Ben Seghir’s goals both came from the left side — which is where Mbappé was so devastating when he made his debut for Monaco in 2015 as a 16-year-old. Mbappé helped the Principality club win the title in 2017, before joining PSG and winning the World Cup with France in 2018.
Ben Seghir replaced striker Wissam Ben Yedder at the start of the second half, with the score 1-1, and made it 2-1 in the 58th minute from Russia midfielder Aleksandr Golovin’s pass.
He then struck a brilliant winner in the 85th.
Cutting inside from the left, Ben Seghir bamboozled a defender with a stepover and then feigned to shoot several times as he advanced before curling the ball into the right corner — which is one of Mbappé’s signature moves.
After the final whistle, Ben Seghir’s teammates pushed him toward Monaco’s 700 away fans and he celebrated by shouting into a megaphone. The win moved Monaco up to fifth place.
Mbappé was starting against Strasbourg, just 10 days after playing in the World Cup final. He became only the second player to score a hat trick in the final but was inconsolable after Les Bleus lost on penalties to Lionel Messi’s Argentina following a 3-3 draw. Messi was given extra time off by PSG and is expected back at training early next week.
Neymar, who was in tears after Brazil lost to Croatia in the quarterfinals, was also starting against Strasbourg at Parc des Princes.
OTHER MATCHES
Corsican club Angers moved away from the relegation zone with a 1-0 home win against last-place Angers and Troyes drew 0-0 with lowly Nantes.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Lens travels to mid-table Nice, while third-place Rennes visits Reims and fourth-place Marseille takes on Toulouse.
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