Rarely in the past decade and a half of Qatari ownership have Paris St-Germain entered the spring with this kind of confidence.

On Saturday evening, the runaway Ligue 1 leaders wasted little time in dismantling a Lille side who also had a midweek Champions League tie to look forward to, scoring four goals in what manager Luis Enrique would later call the team's "best half of the season".

Victory against Les Dogues, who could only muster a consolation goal through Jonathan David 10 minutes from time, was more than simply a dress rehearsal before Liverpool's visit to the French captial on Wednesday for the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Lille, who have notably beaten both Real and Atletico Madrid in Europe this season, were swept aside as PSG continued their seemingly inevitable march towards completing an unbeaten campaign on home soil.

Mo Salah is handed a BRUTAL 3/10 rating by L'Equipe after his miserable PSG display... with seven Liverpool stars slammed, while Alisson receives a rare grade as French press lament 'English Heist' after Reds' late win	Mo Salah is handed a BRUTAL rating by L'Equipe after his miserable PSG display... with seven Liverpool stars slammed as French press lament 'English Heist' after Reds' late win	I was in the Kop for Liverpool vs PSG comeback that ignited new era of European Anfield nights

The all-conquering form of a rejuvenated PSG would have seemed unlikely at the start of the season.

While the post-Kylian Mbappe era arguably started midway through last season, given that the France captain was mostly spared for high-profile matches at that point, replacing his output and leading role remained the major uncertainty on the eve of the new campaign.

That task was made all the more pressing by the absence of a centre-forward in name during most of the autumn.

Portuguese international Goncalo Ramos was sidelined for three months with an ankle injury, while Randal Kolo Muani was progressively phased out of the team, eventually culminating in his loan move to Juventus this winter.

Initially, it was Bradley Barcola, from the left wing, who took up the mantle by scoring 10 times in the first 11 league games of the campaign.

Having carried over his goalscoring form to international duty amid Mbappe's absence from Les Bleus, the 22-year-old was looking increasingly at ease in carrying the now-Real Madrid man's responsibilities for club and country.

His form only faintly translated to Champions League fixtures, though, as was the case for the rest of the team.

Successive false-nine experiments, notably involving Kang-in Lee and Ousmane Dembele, were proving mostly ineffective as the team registered just one win in the first five European matchdays.

The team's league stage campaign, branded by Enrique "unjust" given the tough draw they faced, was stunted by an inability to capitalise on their dominance in possession in most matches.

A disastrous early exit in January was an increasingly credible prospect, until the pieces of the Spaniard's plan finally began to fall into place.

The Parisians' free-scoring run since January has included 18 goals in four European encounters, a figure admittedly inflated by Brest's unfortunate collapse in their play-off tie.