Lionel Messi scored twice for PSG in a 3-2 win vs. RB Leipzig
PSG defeated RB Leipzig 3-2, with Lionel Messi scoring twice. In PSG’s Champions League victory, Messi was involved in all three goals. With the score tied at 0-0, Messi won the ball back on the edge of the PSG penalty area, where Mbappe scored on a counter-attack.
PSG would subsequently fall down 2-1 as Leipzig took control. Mbappe would break into the Leipzig penalty area, where his pass found Messi, whose shot was blocked by the goalkeeper and rebounded off the post. However, the ball would roll across the line, allowing Messi to equalize for PSG.
Mbappe nodded to Messi to take a foul inside the penalty area. PSG seized a 3-2 lead after Messi took the penalty and a Panenka goal. PSG would be awarded a second penalty, which Mbappe would take and miss.
Mauro Icardi did not make the bench, and Leandro Paredes is out injured, therefore Angel Di Maria was not included in the team.
Leipzig is already likely eliminated after three defeats in a row, and the emphasis will now rest on their new coach Jesse Marsch, despite their spirit and running.
Mauricio Pochettino, on the other hand, appears to have no idea how excellent this Paris side is. The attacking combinations are still being rehearsed, the midfield appears to be overstretched, and the defense occasionally appears to want to run and hide.
Meanwhile, enjoy the show and the budding bromance between Messi and Kylian Mbappé, who, despite their disputes and the operatic, high-strung drama of recent months, appear to be learning to enjoy each other’s company.
Mbappé set up Messi’s first goal and generated his second, winning a penalty and giving the Argentine a free run at goal. Messi returned the favor in stoppage time, passing up the chance for a hat-trick to allow Mbappé to take the penalty kick, which France forward dutifully fired over the bar. It doesn’t matter. PSG is back in first place in Group A, after a few scares.
67'—Messi goal, Mbappe assist
74'—Mbappe wins penalty, Messi converts
Turning it around for PSG 💥 pic.twitter.com/PSLh84gfv0— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 19, 2021
Even in the early rounds, it was clear that both teams were there to be beaten, and they both knew it. In order to create space for their attacking wing-backs, Leipzig pushed high and moved the ball forward rapidly. Meanwhile, Paris would scout the backfield for opportunities to release Mbappé into the open channels. And it was from one of these openings that he scored his first goal.
It was a nice low finish at the conclusion of one of those spooky, stalking dribbles in which the defender – this time Willi Orban – is virtually paralyzed by uncertainty and is thus dragged into a deadly dance. The goal was met with imperial applause from a crowd that, to put it mildly, is accustomed to going 1-0 up a lot.
The fact that chasing the game needed no adjustment in style was maybe Leipzig’s only consolation. There was another reason: PSG will almost always give you a chance.
After all, this is a side that has only maintained four clean sheets in 14 games so far this season. Even though Konrad Laimer and André Silva (twice) had several good chances, there was simply not the same level of danger as when you miss a chance against, say, Chelsea.
Leipzig was gradually gaining a sense of the game and locating the open places. They were able to walk the ball up the pitch and work it unfussily from right to left shortly before the half-hour mark, where Angelio delivered in one of his trademarks early crosses for Silva to convert from a tight angle. It was inevitable.
Leipzig made their attack at the opening of the second half, after a brief pause at the end of the first. The ball was thrown left to Angelio, and the penalty area was swarming with white-shirted runners. Nordi Mukiele, a Parisian native, volleyed in Angelio’s wonderful cross, and the pressure was on Pochettino, who could replace personnel but not the strategy because he had so few attacking options on the bench.