PARIS Saint-Germain (PSG) won the curtain-raiser to the French season by ominously crushing Monaco 4-0 for the French Super Cup in Shenzhen on Saturday.

New coach Thomas Tuchel earned his first silverware with PSG and gave Neymar a 15-minute cameo, the Brazilians’ first appearance for the club since February when he broke a foot.

The Brazilian star came off the bench with 15 minutes remaining at the Shenzhen Universiade Stadium, replacing Marco Verratti with PSG already three goals to the good.

Neymar made a late return to PSG after taking a holiday following Brazil’s exit to Belgium in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Russia.

Having only returned to training this week, it was too soon for Tuchel to name Neymar in his starting lineup, while Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani did not travel to China with the rest of the squad.

New goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon did start between the posts after signing from Juventus during the off season.

Two goals from Angel Di Maria plus strikes from Christopher Nkunku and Timothy Weah saw last season’s Treble winners ease to victory over their closest Ligue 1 rivals.

Di Maria had been a lively presence throughout the first half and the Argentine opened the scoring 12 minutes before the break when he capitalized on a foul on Adrien Rabiot to stroke his curling free kick over the wall and beyond Diego Benaglio.

Seven minutes later Nkunku stabbed home PSG’s second from close range as his side took a two-goal cushion into halftime.

Midway through the second half, Timothy Weah put the result beyond doubt when he slipped the ball through Benaglio’s legs from eight meters to make the most of Stanley N’Soki’s darting run and cutback from the touchline.

Neymar was introduced in the 76th minute for Verratti and received a warm welcome from the crowd, but it was Di Maria who put the seal on the win in stoppage time when he slotted into the bottom corner.

PSG opens its campaign at home to Caen on Aug. 12.

(SD-Agencies)