PARIS — Kylian Mbappe and Neymar scored late goals to give Paris Saint-Germain a 2-1 win over nearest challengers Lille Friday as the French champion extended to 12 games its perfect start to the season at the end of a troubled day for the club.

The Qatari-owned club was forced to release a statement shortly before kickoff to deny allegations made by a Football Leaks investigation that they had worked with UEFA to cover up breaches of their Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

However, Mbappe restored smiles at the Parc des Princes with a magnificent strike from just outside the box 20 minutes from time, and Neymar gave PSG a two-goal buffer before Nicolas Pepe pulled one back for the away side from the penalty spot.PSG extend its lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 11 points after a 12th straight league win that means it has now beaten Tottenham Hotspur’s old record for consecutive wins at the start of a season.

Spurs emerged victorious from their opening 11 matches in their double-winning 1960-61 season, a performance that had stood since as a record in Europe’s so-called big five leagues — Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France.

The result is a boost for PSG ahead of its crucial Champions League trip to Italy to face Napoli next Tuesday, when a defeat could leave Thomas Tuchel’s side on the brink of an early exit.

“We deserved the result and the win record. Ligue 1 is not that easy. It is down to our hard work. We give everything on the field,” skipper Thiago Silva told Canal Plus.

Mertens hat trick fires Napoli back to second

Dries Mertens scored a hat trick as Napoli warmed up for next week’s crucial Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain with a 5-1 thrashing of Empoli to go back to second place in Serie A and put the pressure on champion Juventus.

“We were just deadly in attack,” said coach Carlo Ancelotti as Napoli closed the gap on Juventus to three points.

Lorenzo Insigne opened after nine minutes in the San Paolo Stadium with Belgian Mertens also scoring in the first half.

Francesco Caputo gave Empoli hope when he beat the offside trap with a diagonal shot after 58 minutes.

Mertens added two more after the break in the 64th minute and in stoppage time with Poland’s Arkadiusz Milik also getting on the scoresheet in the last minute.

It got Ancelotti’s side back winning after consecutive draws against Paris Saint-Germain (2-2) and AS Roma (1-1). — Agencies