![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And it’s important even for Lionel Messi to win on his debut.Full screen Back of the net. He is Messi: he can radiate an optimism and energy that everyone can feel and that have a positive influence on our players. “Every time he touched the ball, he spread calm throughout the team. “It’s difficult at the moment because our players are all at differrent levels of fitness,” said Pochettino, who hailed the influence of his celebrated compatriot. Reims got some satisfaction by getting in the way. As three defenders converged on him he slipped the ball through to Mbappé, who – noblesse oblige – declined to shoot and tried to set up Messi for the goal that even many home fans seemed to want. He ran at the defence with that bewildering short-stepped skitter. No one seemed to mind that he replaced Neymar, ruining the public’s hopes of seeing a rare alignment of stars.Įxcitement pulsed through the crowd when Messi collected the ball mid-way inside the Reims half in the 77th minute. Then – to claps and chants from the whole crowd – Messi stepped on to the pitch for the first time as a Ligue 1 player. They made it 2-0 just before his entrance, Mbappé crowning a brilliant counter-attack by slotting in from six yards after a cross by Hakimi. The prospect of Messi coming on convinced PSG to pull themselves together. Soon locals exulted again – this time because Messi started limbering up. The goal was disallowed after a long VAR review. Two minutes into the second half the hosts celebrated an equaliser after Marshall Munetsi bundled the ball into the net. But Reims nearly punished them before half-time, Moreto Cassamá hitting the post from 20 yards after Gueye absent-mindedly gave him the ball.Īpparently Pochettino could not rouse his players. Although they often get away with that in Ligue 1, last season’s failure to win the title should have taught them to sharpen up at least a little. This is a problem for them: domestic comfort makes for poor preparation for the Champions League.Īt times even they seem bored by their superiority: here they became sloppy. Mbappé soon put them back in their place, leaping high to nod into the net from six yards after Di María spooned the ball over to him from the right.Īs Gini Wijnaldum and Idrissa Gueye patrolled midfield, where Marco Verratti pulled strings like a maestro, PSG took control. Ilan Kebbal cut through midfield and fed El Bilal Touré, who slashed wide from 15 yards. Reims wanted to prove that they too had talent. Photograph: DPPI/Jean Catuffe/LiveMedia/REX/Shutterstock The forward spun beautifully past his marker but poked wide. Right-back Achraf Hakimi, a lesser vaunted but excellent summer hire, zipped a pass into Mbappé in the 10th minute. PSG started like they meant to put on a show. Instead Ángel Di María filled the right-hand prong of PSG’s attacking trident while Messi sat beside Gianluigi Donnarumma in a dugout de luxe. Messi began on the bench because he is still toning up having not played since July’s Copa America final, or because Pochettino is a big tease. As soon as news broke that Messi might be coming to town, 20,525 tickets were snapped up. Reims’ first match of this season attracted less than 9,000 spectators. This was a royal visit that the masses did not want to miss. PSG are counting on Messi and his undoubted magic, even if dwindling, having the opposite effect. He was a fraud, and his charlatanism contributed to the downfall of the regime he had sought to revive. He attempted to reassert its legitimacy by claiming he had inherited the “royal touch”, a god-given ability to perform miracles. He came to the throne at a time of renewed scorn for the monarchy.
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