After defeating Nantes despite being reduced to ten men on Saturday, Paris Saint-Germain now leads Ligue 1 by 13 points. Scorers: Mbappé 2′, Appiah OG 81′, Messi 87′; Kolo Muani 76′.
Messi’s First Goal
On Saturday, Lionel Messi scored his first goal in Ligue 1 as Paris Saint-Germain defeated Nantes 3-1 despite goalkeeper Keylor Navas’ red card. With an early strike at the Parc des Princes, Kylian Mbappe continued his torrid goal-scoring streak, but Nantes’ Randal Kolo Muani equalized in the second half after Navas was sent off.
With 10 minutes left, PSG took the lead again thanks to a spectacular own goal by Dennis Appiah, before Messi sealed a 12th win in 14 league games this season ahead of next week’s Champions League trip to Manchester City.
After five outings, the Argentine had yet to score in the French top tier while scoring three times for PSG in as many games in Europe. Mauricio Pochettino’s team extended their lead at the top of the league to 12 points over Rennes, who moved into second place after defeating Montpellier 2-0.
Messi missed PSG’s last two games due to injury before the international break, but he returned to form a deadly attack with Neymar and Mbappe after leading Argentina to a World Cup berth in 2022.
Red Card to Navas
PSG had beaten Nantes in March, but Mbappe ensured the hosts got off to the perfect start by diverting Leandro Paredes’ long-range effort beyond Alban Lafont.
After scoring five goals for his team in World Cup qualifying triumphs over Kazakhstan and Finland last week, France forward has scored seven goals in his last four appearances. To keep Nantes in the game, Lafont made a series of outstanding stops, twice thwarting Messi and also denying Neymar and Mbappe with his legs.
When Navas was issued a red card on 65 minutes for crushing Ludovic Blas after charging outside his area in pursuit of a long ball, Nantes saw an opening.
Due to the illness of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Rico made his first appearance of the season at the cost of Neymar, nearly immediately making a superb reaction stop from point-blank range.
Rico responded quickly to deny Kolo Muani a header, but the Nantes striker was first to the rebound and back-heeled the ball over the line, with goal-line technology showing the ball had crossed before Rico parried it clear. PSG took the lead thanks to a stunning stroke of luck when Appiah’s attempt to cut out a Messi ball rebounded over a stranded Lafont from a distance of 20 meters.
Final Moments of the Match
Four minutes from time, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner secured the win by taking a pass from Mbappe 35 meters out and creeping towards the area before sweeping into the far corner.
Rennes’ outstanding run of form continued on Saturday with a convincing win against Montpellier, extending their unbeaten record to 11 games in all competitions. With goals from Martin Terrier and Croatian international Lovro Majer in the opening half-hour, they were able to overtake Lens, Nice, and Marseille into second place.
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