Paris Saint Germain forward, Lionel Messi revealed how excited he was after scoring his first Ligue 1 goal for his new club on Saturday, November 20, 2021.
Recall that Lionel Messi joined PSG on August 10, 2021, after his childhood club, FC Barcelona failed to offer him a new deal due to financial difficulties.
Since the 34-year-old Argentine football icon joined PSG, it has been difficult for him to score goals in the French Ligue 1 but has gotten a couple of goals in the Champions League for PSG.
So far at the club, he has played 3 Champions League games in which he scored three goals. Before PSG’s league game against Nantes on Saturday, November 20, Lionel Messi has played 5 league games with no goal nor an assist.
The Argentine football star put an end to such a bad spell in the 87th minute of the league game against Nantes after taking advantage of Kylian Mbappe’s pass on the edge of the box.
Lionel Messi was involved in nine shots during the game against Nantes (6 shots, 3 chances created), his highest tally in a league game this season. 💪 pic.twitter.com/61u93ssh2y
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) November 20, 2021
Before Messi scored his first Ligue 1 goal in the game, Mbappe has opened the scoring in the 2nd minute of the match. Nantes’ Kolo Muani canceled out Mbappe’s goal in the 76th minutes, eleven minutes after PSG’s first-choice goalkeeper Keylor Navas was shown a red card for a rough tackle.
PSG took the lead in the 81st minute when Nantes’ Dennis Appiah intercepted a Messi pass which ended up in his net.
After that, Messi took full advantage of a golden moment to score his first Ligue 1 goal for PSG and sealed the victory for the club, three minutes before the end of regular time.
Messi's first Ligue 1 goal was worth the wait 🤩
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 20, 2021
(via @ESbeINSPORTS) pic.twitter.com/qgkfBFMzNM
Even though PSG played with a man down for over 25 minutes of the game, the French Ligue 1 giants still enjoyed 67 percent of the ball possession and recorded more shots on target (7) than their visitors (6).
The 3-1 win over Nantes has further cemented PSG’s ranking on the league table. The French giants are occupying the first spot with 37 points in 14 games, 12 points above second-placed Rennes.
After the game, Lionel Messi told Amazon Prime that he was delighted with his first goal and noted that he has always wanted to score in the league.
The record 6 times Ballon d’Or winner said: “I’m delighted with this first goal, I really wanted it.
“I’ve had several chances, in this match and previous matches.
“I’m very happy with this first goal in Ligue 1 even if I had already scored in the Champions League.”
In his reaction, PSG’s coach Mauricio Pochettino claimed that his team could have scored more goals against Nantes.
He hailed the effort of his players for ensuring that they did not allow the opposition team to take advantage of the fact that PSG played with a man down.
The coach said: “We should have scored a lot more goals. But these kinds of matches are always open and when it is like that everything can happen.
“The team showed their character once again [after Navas was sent off] and that was great. Time is important to bond between players and start to feel comfortable on the pitch.”
