Three months after moving to PSG, the superstar from Argentina celebrated his two goals against RB Leipzig.
It was said that he was too old. It was written that he was a full star. He would only have worked at FC Barcelona and would only cash in at Paris Saint-Germain, said his critics. But Lionel Messi can still do it. In the 3-2 home win against RB Leipzig, the Argentine scored the second and third goals of his team on Tuesday evening. It was the first double for the superstar, who switched to the starting group in the French capital in the summer.
A special guest may have had an impact on Messi's performance – Messi (34) was visibly pleased with the visit of Ronaldinho (41) even before the game. The world star from Brazil, who played with him at FC Barcelona at the beginning of Messi's career and later also worked for PSG, attended the game in Prinzenpark and hugged Messi on the pitch.
Congenial duo
The class of Lionel Messi and especially of Kylian Mbappé kept PSG on course for victory in Group A. The offensive star duo were involved in all goals and harmonize better and better. Things are going like clockwork for Messi, especially in the Champions League, where he scored all three of his goals in the PSG dress. For the German Bundesliga club, however, the chance of promotion after the third zero is negligible.
Even if Messi scored twice, Mbappé was the man of the evening. The 22-year-old, who almost switched to Real Madrid in the summer, scored early (9th), prepared the 2-2 from Messi (67th) in an exemplary manner and also took out the penalty that the Argentine converted to the winning goal (74th). “He's the best footballer in the world, it's a privilege to play with him,” said Mbappé. “It is normal that you let him shoot the penalty out of respect.”
The lightning-fast attacker had already prepared Messi's first goal for his new club in the 2-0 win against Manchester City. “There were some good things, some of them weren't that good, but that's normal when you meet good teams,” said Mbappé. His team was able to cope with the failures of Neymar and Ángel di Maria as well as a missed Mbappé penalty in stoppage time – this time Messi had let him go.
PSG remain undefeated while Leipzig has not yet written. “Football is sometimes not fair, Paris was freezing and punished every mistake,” said ÖFB team player Konrad Laimer. “The bottom line is that we can be proud of our performance. We have shown that we can keep up at the highest level. ”With two chances (3rd, 7th) Laimer could have made for a dream start – in the end the disappointment remained.
Historic defeat
Borussia Dortmund experienced a historic rubdown – 0: 4 at Ajax Amsterdam. In frustration with the biggest defeat in the long Champions League history of his heart club, captain Marco Reus felt little desire to whitewash. “It wasn't on the plan that we should go under like this,” complained the international.
The exceptional striker Erling Haaland only saw a ball hit the crossbar and a second chance in 90 minutes. The obvious class difference between the two teams also made midfielder Julian Brandt think: “It was a lesson for us. We have been shown our limits. This defeat is extremely painful. “
