Montpellier 1-3 PSG: Fabian Ruiz assists and scores, Mbappe leaves injured

PSG returned to domestic competition on Wednesday as they visited Montpellier at La Masson and got a 1-3 win on the road, their first victory in three Ligue 1 games.

The scoreboard tells a much more exciting story than the one those watching the game actually enjoyed, though, with PSG putting on another dull and bland performance overall.

The game didn't start any good for Paris Saint-Germain with Sergio Ramos winning a penalty but Kylian Mbappe missing the kick from the spot... only for it to be withdrawn and retaken after encroachment by the Montpellier players.

Mbappe went on to miss the second penalty, too, followed by an unexplainable mistake in front of an empty net after the kick landed on his lap after ricocheting off the post.

Just minutes later, barely past the 20th, Mbappe was forced off the field having suffered a couple of knocks on his left knee. Worrying, worrying development that one... only followed by Sergio Ramos also having to leave the field later on, allegedly because of a muscular issue. Don't get fooled, though. In reality, Ramos clearly suffered a concussion getting hit in the head on a cross but tried to hide it stupidly, only delaying an inevitable substitution. You can do much better than that, Sergio.

It took PSG 60 minutes to break the Montpellier lock in a rather uninspiring outing

PSG is getting accustomed to making things happen when their games approach the 60th minute. Last weekend it was Marco Verratti getting sent off on the verge of the hour. Wednesday, it was Fabian Ruiz who scored his first goal after signing with Paris Saint-Germain last summer. About time, Fabi!

Exactly 15 minutes later, the same Ruiz will be the one creating an assist out of thin air for Lionel Messi to finish with a sublime touch to put the ball in the back of the net. All of a sudden, and without truly meriting the two-goal advantage because of their dry play, PSG found themselves two-nil up on the scoreboard.

That was pretty much it on the evening, as Montpellier never brought any sort of heat to the confines of a very calm Gianluigi Donnarumma that never broke a drop of sweat. The only strong chance he faced ended kissing the net, but it was too late (89th minute) and Montpellier got their dreams crushed when an off-the-pine titi, Warren Zaire-Emery, became the youngest professional goalscorer in the history of PSG after hitting the final 1-3.

PSG can be thankful for Lens' defeat to OGC Nice, as that helped the team from the French capital to build a five-point lead above now-runner-up Olympique Marseille.

Paris went to sleep still leading the league, but with very serious questions regarding the health of Mbappe with the strongest part of the season still to come and right around the corner. As always, not everything can be rosy on all Parisian corners.