Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar made out time to celebrate the Paris Saint Germain win over Manchester City by posing for a picture in the locker room after the game.
On Tuesday, September 28, 2021, Manchester City visited Parc Des Princes to play a UEFA Champions League Group A game against PSG.
Coach Mauricio Pochettino decided to start Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar in the Champions League game. That was the second time the Argentine tactician started Messi alongside Neymar and Mbappe in a Champions League game since the record six-time Ballon d’Or winner joined the club from FC Barcelona in August 2021.
Unfortunately for Manchester City that knocked out PSG in the semi-finals stage of the Champions League, last season, the Premier League club met an unbreakable PSG side that didn’t concede a goal throughout the group stage game.
On the other end of the pitch, PSG took the lead as early as the 8th minute thanks to a strike from Senegalese midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye.
When Manchester City were trying to get the equalizer, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe were given room to make a couple of passes close to the eighteen-yard box of City before the 34-year-old former FC Barcelona forward fired in his first goal for PSG in the 74th minute.
Even though Manchester City recorded 18 shots, 7 of which were on target, the Premier League club left Parc Des Princes without a point.
While celebrating the win, France’s Mbappe took to his Instagram story to share a picture showing Argentina’s Messi, Brazil’s Neymar, and himself posing in the locker room.
With the 2-0 defeat, Manchester City that were sitting on the second spot of Group A before the Tuesday meeting, slid to the third spot with 3 points in 2 games. While PSG remained top of the group.
After the game, the coach of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola who coached Lionel Messi at FC Barcelona between 2008 and 2012 admitted that it was impossible to control the 34-year-old Argentine forward.
He noted that Messi did not have much of the ball during the Champions League game because he just returned from injury. The Spanish coach noted that the football icon is unstoppable whenever he comes close to the ball.
“We dealt with PSG first of all, but we know it’s impossible to control Leo for 90 minutes,” Guardiola said.
“He was not much in touch with the ball – of course he was coming back from injury, he needed a bit of rhythm – but we know quite well when he can run and get close to the ball, he is unstoppable.
“What we have done is minimize, as much as possible, this kind of options and create the chances that we could create and I’m satisfied with the way we played.
“People can’t deny that we were there. We arrived here, we did our game, but it’s always a risk when you lose the ball and they can make one pass, especially with (Marco) Verratti, an exceptional, extraordinary player, and make contact with Neymar and Messi and they can run, it’s difficult.
“We did a really good game, but we should have scored goals and we didn’t do it. That’s why we lost.”
