PSG played with a full lineup of good players in attɑck and home advantage, but had a bad performance against an opponent standing in the bottom half of the rankings.
Except for the superior ball possession rate due to being given the ball (67%), the mark on the attɑcking front of the defending champion in the first half was zero. Messi, Neymar, Mbappe were followed closely by Reims defenders and did not got a shot on target.
The away team defended proactively and showed cohesion in each counter-attɑck situation. Without the talent of Gianluigi Donnarumma, the PSG net would have vibrated after the shots of Folarin Balogun or Marshall Munetsi.
PSG did not play well but still had the opening goal at the beginning of the second half. In the 51st minute, Messi took a shot from close to the penalty area. The ball touched a defender of the away team and then found Neymar’s position. The Brazilian player calmly controlled the keeper, before hitting an empty net to give the host the lead.
Neymar scored his first Ligue 1 goal since November 2022.
After the goal, the home team sᴜddenly lost their man when Marco Verratti received a red card in the 59th minute. The Italian midfielder was just brought on at the start of the second half but was sent off for a kick with the underfoot of Junya. Ito.
With 10 people on the field, PSG attɑcked again elegantly. The opportunity to finish close-range continuously opened with Mbappe and Ramos, but the duo could not beɑt goalkeeper Diouf. 65 minutes, Achraf Hakimi put the ball into the net of Reims. VAR quickly stepped in and announced the Moroccan player was offside.
Mbappe has a lackluster match day
In the 83rd minute, PSG fans were about to celebrate when Messi had the ball less than 10 meters from the goal. However, “El Pulga”‘s right footed shot missed the post.
After the situation of food failure, the reigning World Cup champion could only hold his face in regret. This was also the most remarkable opportunity he had during the 90 minutes.
Messi shoots out from close range
Not long after Messi’s shot missed the post, Reims put pressure back. Minutes 90+6, when the referee looked at the clock. Zaire-Emery, the player who replaced Neymar had a careless pass. Reims immediately took the opportunity to counterattɑck. Folarin Balogun escaped, dribbled past Donnarumma and then shot into an empty net, equalizing 1-1.
Messi and his teammates fell to victory when the match was only in seconds, thereby missing the opportunity to widen the gap with Lens in the championship race. The capital team is still only 3 points ahead of the opponent.
“Messi made PSG fall to victory”, a fan criticized the superstar born in 1987. “Messi was no longer himself after the World Cup”, the second said. “Not everyone can score with a close-range kick,” the third fan sarcastically said.
In 90 minutes, Messi touched the ball 74 times, passed with 89% accuracy, fired 4 shots but never hit the target. He was scored 6 by Sofascore, the lowest on the field.
Messi had a disappointing day
PSG had a disappointing day against the underdog. Coach Christophe Galtier’s army played deadlocked in the first half and had to rely on a shaky situation at the beginning of the second half to open the scoring. Having to play short of people after Marco Verratti’s red card was one of the reasons why “Le Parisien” fell when the match was only seconds.