It is very possible that Leo Messi will play tonight (Tuesday, 22:00) against Manchester City and Pep Guardiola after missing the last two games of PSG due to injury, and it is possible that the Argentine will be excellent and that his cooperation with Neymar and Killian Ambape will be Hypnotic just as everyone imagines.
At the moment, however, just before the important game against the English champions, the MNM trio fail to produce the delicacies that were expected of them.
Because of injuries of course, and also because of the fact that the Argentine and the Brazilian spent some time in South America and concentrated on the World Cup qualifiers, but not only.
Beneath the surface and the perfect balance of the Parisians in the league, lie some problems that prevent these three from enjoying their time together.
The surface, as mentioned, does not tell the whole story.
PSG is ranked first in the league with a perfect balance after eight rounds, and in the Champions League has achieved a draw in an away game in Bruges.
With the exception of the Super Cup held in Bloomfield without the big stars, Mauricio Pochettino's team has yet to lose this season.
She scores almost three goals on average per game, always finding the player to win games for her - once Mauro Icardi, once Ashraf Hakimi, once Idrissa Gay and once Under Herrera - and the defense is up to the task.
Ambape and Pochettino.
The coach does not lack headaches, Photo: AFP
The problem?
The part of Messi-Neymar-Ambape is not only marginal, it is mostly negative.
Beyond the fact that they played very little together - 76 minutes against Lyon and 51 against Bruges - even when individually or in pairs, the titles they manage to produce seem to be mostly unflattering.
In the case of the Argentine, it is of course an exchange with Lyon and ignoring Pochettino, which created a lot of chaos even though it was an injury, in addition to the reports that told about Messi's difficulty in adapting and finding an apartment in Paris - a matter already resolved for 20,000 euros a month.
Neymar, on the other hand, faced claims at the start of the season that he gained weight, and even if he took off a shirt and proved otherwise, one goal he scored (and he too in the penalty shootout) is not really convincing that he is at his peak.
"I zero was not removed"
While Messi and Neymar's troubles seem and sound negligible and solvable, Ambepa's case is a little more worrying. The French star opened the season better among the members of the trio, scoring four goals and cooking the same number, but it is clear that he is not happy with the arrangement. On Saturday, after Neymar cooked up Julian Drexler for the 0-2 draw against Montpellier in the closing minutes, the TV camera caught Ambepa telling Idrissa Gay "that zero was not moral to me". This statement, which was well filmed and there is no way to interpret it differently, highlighted the dissatisfaction of the Frenchman who missed a lot and recorded a fourth game in a row without a goal. It is likely that the two's close friendships will not be harmed by this - only three days earlier they were in a joint quarrel with Metz goalkeeper - but professionally there is an issue here that needs to be addressed.
Against Bruges, when the three stars played together, they handed each other 19 times, with the most prolific combination being Messi-Neymar and the least prolific being Neymar-Ambape. The Frenchman may feel he has been pushed aside a bit, so when the balls do not come in and the dedication does not come - the nerves go up. "Killian must behave differently if he wants to be loved," coach Metz criticized the star's behavior at the end of the meeting between the teams; "I love him as an actor, but modesty will not hurt him."
Ahead of tonight's important meeting against City, Pochettino was happy to deal mainly with the coordination between the MNM trio, but he has more on his mind.
Alongside Ambape's contract matters and rumors of the English champions' desire to sign him at all costs, he is required to defend the character of the French star.
“He’s a great kid and a great competitor who always wants to win,” the coach said.
At the same time he is required to face unfit Messi and Neymar who has not yet entered the season.
"There is still a lot of room for improvement," Pochettino said after the recent league win and it seems he too understands that at the moment he may be on target but not on target.
PSG was not built to lead the table with narrow victories under the auspices of Idrissa Gay (excellent), she needs to ignite the imagination with the trio put together for her.
So far it has not happened, and if it does not happen against City as well it could be a problem.