Lionel Messi could not do enough to help Paris Saint Germain to earn their 4th straight win in the French Ligue One 2022-2023 campaign despite playing for 87 minutes last weekend.
PSG’s perfect start to the new Ligue 1 season came to a halt on Sunday, August 28, 2022, as they drew 1-1 against AS Monaco at Parc des Princes.
The visitors took the lead, through German striker Kevin Volland but PSG eventually equalized through a penalty from Neymar.
It appeared as a shock for PSG when the visitors took the lead from a rare opportunity afforded to them. Monaco striker, Kevin Volland launched himself onside and buried the ball with confidence to make it 1-0 for the visitors after 20 minutes of the game.
Former Barcelona star Lionel Messi was frustrated after all his attempts to give PSG an equalizer before the end of first-half in yesterday’s match against Monaco were impeded.
Messi and Kylian Mbappe had chances to score, slamming the woodwork twice in the space of 31st minutes but they could not equalize and PSG lagged by a goal heading into the second half.
Messi banged the woodwork with a brutal 25-yard shot that bounced back to Mbappe, who later diverted the rebound onto the opposite post.
The hosts eventually equalised with the referee awarding a penalty through a VAR check after initially ignoring Neymar’s appeals for a trip by Guillermo Maripan. Neymar stepped up and slotted the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-1 for PSG.
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain head coach Christophe Galtier was pleased that there was no more penalty drama after Neymar equalized from the spot in the 1-1 draw against Monaco.
Previously, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe clashed in the 5-2 win in a match against Montpellier on August 13, 2022, after the France international footballer tried to grab the ball off Neymar for a penalty, having already missed a spot-kick earlier in the game.
The duo reportedly resolved the issue after the match, but it was likely for the situation to flare up again as PSG won another penalty against Monaco in yesterday’s match. Neymar scored the penalty without any controversy and celebrated with Mbappe.
Galtier was delighted there was no more disagreement over spot-kick duties. After the match, he said, during a talk with prime video: “On this match, Kylian Mbappe was the number 1 penalty taker and Neymar was number 2.
“After talking with Kylian, I saw that he had been happy to congratulate Neymar. This is how it should be. They are great players, it’s up to them to feel it. The important thing is that he scored and that Kylian came to congratulate him.”
Lionel Messi seems not to be pleased with the 1-1 draw after he missed great openings to score. The Argentine star was unlucky not to score as he hit the post in the first half. However, Messi completed four successful dribbles and won seven of his 13 duels against Monaco in the match on August 28th, 2022.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was only able to play Monaco on one occasion last season. The Argentine star did not feature in the reverse fixture back in March 2022 as he was hit by flu which kept him out of the game.
Out of the two games he played for PSG against Monaco, Lionel Messi didn’t score any goal but he provided an assist for Kylian Mbappe to beat Monaco 2-0 in their first leg in last season League 1 Campaign.
Since it was obvious that Messi would not be able to help PSG best Monaco during the encounter on Sunday, coach Galtier had to substitute him in the 87th minute with a 1-1 scoreline. However, his exit from the game couldn’t change much as PSG shared the spoils with Monaco.
Despite the 1-1 draw, PSG are still topping the Ligue 1 table with 10 points in four games, the same number of points as second and third-placed Marseille and Lens.
