Lionel still has flair but Pep trousers points
LIONEL MESSI nutmegged Raheem Sterling early on last night. For most pros that is an embarrassment; for Sterling it will be one to tell the grandkids about.
He may be 34 and not quite the unstoppable force of old but Messi still carries with him a certain status and swagger.
Pep Guadiola’s pre-match warning that it is almost impossible to keep the genius in the bottle for a full 90 minutes was well founded.
Before yesterday Messi had scored seven Champions League goals in seven games against them. City largely kept him contained for the first half last night but the level of concern over the threat offered by the little maestro was shown with Rodri’s wild remonstrations to his team-mates when Messi was allowed the space to turn and pick out a lovely pass to Nuno Mendes.
Give Messi room and the ball and bad things happen. Five minutes after the break he located a pocket of ground on the left of the City box and his cross, deflected by Kyle Walker, found its way to Kylian Mbappe who finished with a thump to put PSG one up. The Devil’s Trident up front with Mbappe and Neymar, below, has taken time to coalesce for the French league leaders.
As a closing-down unit PSG would be better off with a trouser press than the Galactico press they have to call upon.
When Manchester City had the ball last night the three of them might as well have been in deckchairs.
But the menace was lurking all the same.
Had Mbappe not shot over the bar from Neymar’s pass after a mistake by John Stones just before the break PSG would have held an undeserved lead at half-time.
For all their territorial dominance, City knew all about the damage the trio – and especially Messi – could wreak. His goal tally against them included a gem when the two sides met in Paris in September.
The dribble, one-two with Mbappe and sweet side-foot from outside the penalty area into the roof of the City net took the breath away.
It was a ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ moment. The only disappointment was no white rabbit appeared out of thin air.There was nothing on that scale last night but Messi remains a class act.