Paris Saint-Germain’s trip to Rennes on Sunday will be the first time their superstar three of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar have all played together since the World Cup. Mbappe returned to training on Thursday after being given 10 days off after returning from Qatar and playing in PSG’s first two games after the tournament. He flew to New York for a break and was nowhere to be seen when Messi made his comeback, scoring in a 2-0 win for the Ligue 1 leaders against Angers on Wednesday.
The World Cup was a clear motivating factor in the trio’s excellent form during the early months of the season, and how they play together will be crucial in determining how the rest of the season plays out for PSG.
They are six points ahead of Lens before finishing the first half of the season in Rennes, but the Champions League is their main target.
After failing to top their group, Christophe Galtier’s side were drawn to play Bayern Munich in the last 16, with the first leg at home on 14 February.
Galtier described the 35-year-old Messi as “relaxed and in great physical shape” after his first match since leading Argentina to a penalty shoot-out victory over Mbappé’s France in an epic World Cup final last month.
The question now is how much motivation the former Barcelona star has after that career-defining triumph.
PSG are eager to extend his contract in the French capital for a third season and Messi’s biggest target now is to win the Champions League for the first time since 2015.
Fueled by losing the World Cup final despite scoring a hat-trick, 2018 world champion Mbappe will be desperate to get his hands on the Champions League trophy for the first time.
Neymar, meanwhile, seems a bit of an odd man out: he left the World Cup in tears as Brazil lost on penalties in the quarter-finals, aware that his chance to win that trophy may have gone forever.
He was then sent off in PSG’s first post-Qatar match against Strasbourg, ending 2022 in disgrace.
But for PSG it’s not just about those three.
They look light in defense, where they seem overly dependent on an aging Sergio Ramos, and lack muscle in midfield, an area where a vulnerable Marco Verratti is their key player.
Galtier insists they still need time to get back up to speed.
“We’re all just getting used to playing together again and you could sometimes see that we missed some of the connections between the players that we used to have before the World Cup,” he said after the midweek game.
Player to watch: Ross Barkley
If the England midfielder was hoping to revive his career in France, the move didn’t work out for the 29-year-old former Everton prodigy as he struggled to make a serious impression in the first three months of the season. At the beginning of 2023, however, things are going better for him. Barkley scored a brilliant goal against Rennes on 2 January in a 2-1 defeat, then came off the bench to score twice in Wednesday’s 6-1 thrashing of Montpellier.
That last game was also the first for Nice since coach Lucien Favre was fired and replaced by Didier Digard. Barkley hopes to make more of an impression in the coming months under a new manager at British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s club.
Main stats
48 – Goals Mbappé, Neymar and Messi have scored together for their club this season
10 – Bottom Angers have lost their last 10 league matches. The record for most consecutive defeats in a single top French season is 12
8 – Rennes has won the last eight home league matches.
Matches (kick-off GMT)
Saturday
Lens against Auxerre (1600), Marseille against Lorient (1800), Lyon against Strasbourg (2000)
Sunday
Lille v Troyes (1200), Reims v Nice, Angers v Clermont, Montpellier v Nantes, Toulouse v Brest (all 1400), Monaco v Ajaccio (1605), Rennes v Paris Saint-Germain (1945)
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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