Paris Saint-germain starts strong without Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe's departure was expected to sidetrack Paris Saint-germain this season.
How would a team long viewed as over-reliant on the France superstar cope without him after his move to Real Madrid?
Who could score so freely for PSG when Mbappe averaged more than 40 goals per season over the past four campaigns and more than 250 in seven years at the club? And who would bail the team out of trouble with last-gasp winners?
Things have turned out rather well, so far, and the widely anticipated post-mbappe headache has not materialized.
Far from it.
PSG is the only team to have won its first three games in the French league and has scored an impressive 13 goals.
No longer being so reliant on Mbappe seems to have produced an early side-effect, whereby the goals are being shared around and teamwork has improved in coach Luis Enrique's side.
Bradley Barcola has led the way with four goals, adding a finishing touch to his skilful dribbling down the left, while his French teammate Randal Kolo Muani and South Korean forward Lee Kangin have netted twice each.
French right-winger Ousmane Dembele has chipped in with a goal and two assists for the defending champion, while new signing João Neves leads the league with three assists.
Kolo Muani and Dembele continued their form with France, each scoring on Monday in a 2-0 win against Belgium in the Nations League.
For now, it seems like Mbappe's absence is being felt more keenly off the field than on it.
On Wednesday, he rejected a mediation offer by the French soccer league's legal commission in his dispute with PSG over wages and bonuses.
PSG officials and Mbappe's representatives met in Paris after Mbappe asked the commission to get involved. On Thursday, the league's legal board ordered PSG to pay 55 million euros (US$60 million) in unpaid wages.