Mbappe plays a leading role in Messi’s debut for Paris Saint-Germain

Sunday, August 29, 2021 at 10:38 PM• Chris Meijer

Lionel Messi made his official debut for Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday evening. The striker, who came over from Barcelona, ​​was brought in as a replacement for Neymar 25 minutes before the end during the match against Stade de Reims. In the 0-2 score, which had been achieved by two goals from Kylian Mbappe, there was no change during the first minutes of Messi in French service.

Beforehand, all eyes were on Messi and Mbappe. Trainer Mauricio Pochettino kept the Argentinian acquisition on the reserve bench, but did clear a base for Mbappe, who was heavily linked to a move to Real Madrid. By the way, Georginio Wijnaldum also assisted at the kick-off les Parisiens, while Mitchell van Bergen, taken over from sc Heerenveen, sat on the bench with the opponent. The first chances of the game were for the visitors, who often had possession of the ball in the first half. Mbappe and Idrissa Gueye were threatening for PSG, while Stade de Reims also showed themselves in the early stages with an opportunity for El Bilal Toure.

The ban was broken with sixteen minutes on the clock. Ángel Di Maria found Mbappé with a flawless cross, after which the much-discussed attacker between his two guards put the opening goal on the scoreboard from close by. In the remainder of the first half, PSG struggled to break down the home team’s positions. Shortly before half time, Stade de Reims even had a good opportunity to equalize when Keylor Navas prevented a goal from Moreto Cassamá. Shortly after the break, the home team actually seemed to reach 1-1.

Navas made a save on a header by Touré, but had no chance on the rebound from Marshall Munetsi. After interference from the VAR, however, referee Francois Letexier drew a line through the equalizer, because there was an offside. In the end, PSG doubled the margin after just over an hour of play. After a lightning-fast counter, Achraf found Hakimi Mbappé at the far post with a razor-sharp cross. The attacker shot his second goal of the evening from close range behind the hopeless goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic.

Shortly after the 0-2, Pochettino saw a reason to bring Messi on as the replacement for Neymar. After a hug with his former teammate, the Argentine attacker made his official debut as a PSG player. Shortly after Messi made his entrance, Van Bergen also got his first minutes in the shirt of Stade de Reims. The middle engine managed to make Messi harmless – with the necessary violations – in the final phase and partly because of this, the score did not increase further. PSG remain clear for the time being due to the victory in the Stade Auguste-Delaune: with twelve points from four games, PSG are les Parisiens the league-leader in Ligue 1, two points ahead of closest pursuer SCO Angers.