Messi’s beautiful comeback after the World Cup

It has been 24 days since Lionel Messi triumphed at the 2022 World Cup. The tournament’s best player played all 90 minutes for his club, although the World Cup was a busy one, followed by a long holiday.

But the rest has had a good effect on the Argentine. Just a week ago, Messi arrived in Paris for his club and started training. It should be noted that one match this year was played without Leo, and then PSG lost 3-1 to Lans. But that brought the intrigue back to the French championship.

Before the match against Angers, it was reported that the club will not hold a celebration of the Argentine’s victory, as it is unclear how the French fans will react to it. 

Messi started the game in the starting line-up alongside Neymar, while the other base players were still rested or missing the match for various reasons. The Parisians did not need much time to open the scoring. As early as the 5th minute of the match, there was a goal attack, and Messi himself also took part in it. Leo opened on the corner of the penalty area, gave a pass to the right, and from there the goal was followed by a pass to the centre forward, who is now replaced by Mbappe.  After that, all was quiet, with the hosts in control of the match, while the visitors were almost never near the opposition penalty area.

Of course, the focus of attention from the fans was Leo. In his customary position, he acted as a free artist. That is, as always, he looked for areas where he could get the ball. And midway through the first half he should have also had a goal when he crossed to Ramos in the penalty area. But the goalkeeper’s superb performance cancelled everything out.

It must be said that the Argentine himself had all the chances of scoring in the first half.  He received passes on the counterattack, avoided a free-kick, but he was also denied one-on-one with the opposing keeper.  The goalkeeper was on the spot, and even a shot from under the defender could not affect him.

The game was played at medium speed, without panicking. But it was necessary to put a point in the match and score 2 goals. In addition, Angers started to behave more actively and gradually got closer to the penalty area. There were dangerous moments because of defensive mistakes.

But midway through the second half Leo scored himself. He started a combination in the centre, and eventually successfully opened the area and converted a one-on-one situation.  Although there were proceedings and the referee even watched VAR, the goal was eventually converted. This moment isn’t the easiest to assess and there will definitely be arguments about it. There will certainly be those who say that the Argentine was awarded a goal again.

But that goal did take the pressure off the Parisians and everything became clear, the intrigue just disappeared. Angers still couldn’t get a shot on goal. Neymar also scored following a pass from the Argentine, but this time it was offside.