Lionel Messi
will receive this Thursday in a Monumental full with a huge ovation and all the affection of the Argentine fans.
It will be his first presentation in the country after winning the World Cup in Qatar 2020 and it will also be the possibility of converting the 800th goal of his career and doing it with the Argentine National Team shirt.
But this Sunday, in the Parc des Princes, he was received with whistles by the ultras of Paris Saint Germain and with indifference for the majority of the spectators.
Afterwards,
there was disappointment, anger and anger
at the 2-0 loss to Rennes, after another poor performance by the team, which lost an unbeaten home game in 35 games.
PSG continues aimlessly in the game although it remains the leader of Ligue1.
Eliminated in the French Cup and the Champions League, now he is putting his status as a comfortable leader in the tournament at risk.
The whistles from the public after the final whistle multiplied.
The Parisian team has 66 points and leads 9 to Lens, who has 57. But now Olympique de Marseille has the chance to be only 7 points behind.
Rennes, with this victory, rose to fifth place and entered the Europa League zone.
On February 14, when they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the
Champions League
, PSG lost an undefeated 36-game match at the Parc des Princes, considering all competitions.
And to this Sunday's game he had arrived with a streak of 35 games without losing in Ligue 1, with 30 wins and 5 draws, since April 3, 2021. The previous setback had been against Lille, then led by Christophe Galtier
,
the current DT of the Parisians.
The football crisis also devastated the impressive brand.
A conjunction of stars cannot make a good soccer team.
It was the pending subject of Argentine
Mauricio Pochettino
last season, who also had
Ángel Di María
on the squad .
It's Coach Galtier's big problem, especially this year.
It is that in the last part of 2022, even without playing well, PSG remained unbeaten in 21 games, 15 in the League and 6 in the Champions League.
This year they lost 6 of the 14 games played and were left out of two competitions, in the French Cup at the hands of Olympique de Marseille and in the Champions League by Bayern Munich.
The World Cup final featured the two great figures of PSG, Messi and Mbappé.
It is true, both lowered their performance after the restart.
But the French continue banking theirs but not so much the Argentine.
Against Rennes, both showed glimpses of his quality, Leo, very active, with some assists that did not turn into goals and shots on target, and Kylian always dangerous with his speed, although he failed to finish.
They are far from their best level and, also, from the goal.
The rest of the team does not accompany.
Messi was very active, but he was not very efficient.
Photo: CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
Even without playing well, in the first 45 minutes the protagonist was PSG, who spent the most and generated the best scoring situations.
But with a couple of saves, goalkeeper
Steve Mandanda
became a figure.
The visit was clear that it could hurt a weak line of four locals, with several absences, against.
And he resolved it at the end of the first stage, with Karlo Toto Ekambi
's goal
after 45 minutes, and at the start of the second half, with
Arnaud Kalimuendo
's goal after 3 minutes.
PSG's reaction was lukewarm and erratic
, with some individual attempts but few collective combinations.
When he managed to string together a good play to counter Rennes' staunch defense, a shot from Verratti sent the endless Mandanda to the corner, who also rejected him first and then caught a couple of attempts from Messi.
This week there will be a FIFA date and that is why Messi will be traveling to Argentina shortly, where on Thursday he will play against Panama in River and on Tuesday the 28th against Curaçao in Santiago del Estero.
And of course, now everyone is waiting for the 800th goal of his senior career (701 in clubs and 98 in the National Team) with the albiceleste shirt that has three stars embroidered above the shield.
And, why not, he will also be able to reach 100 goals with Argentina.
look also
PSG vs Rennes, for the French League, LIVE: Messi did not achieve his 800th goal and his team was dismissed with whistles for the defeat at home
Enzo Fernández and Tagliafico, the first to arrive for the National Team party: when do Messi and the rest of the players travel?