The emblematic shirt of Lionel Messi throughout his career, that of N° 10, symbol of innumerable successes, in the few times he used it in Paris Saint Germain was associated with a couple of disappointments. Both for the French Cup, con two eliminations. The most recent, this Wednesday, in the 2-1 defeat in Marseille once morest Olympique for the round of 16.
It is not just a curse or a numerical fatality in the case of Messi’s 10. There were football reasons: Olympic was superiorplayed at a higher pace than his opponent and created more scoring situations to win The classic French. A very celebrated victory in the packed Velodrome stadium, where football is lived with great fanaticism, often bordering on overflows and excesses.
It is true that the French Cup is not among PSG’s priorities for the season. But he still had the best training possible, with Messi and Neymar as an attacking partner, while Kylian Mbappe continues to recover from a tear. Even so he might not prevent Olympique from controlling much of the development, with the exception of the last 10 minutes, when he fell back to repel the last and faded attempts of the team to Christophe Galtier.
Summary of Olympique Marseille 2 – PSG 1
Since he joined PSG in August 2021, Messi left Neymar with number 10, although the Brazilian offered it to him as soon as he arrived. Leo chose the No. 30, the number he uses for both Ligue 1 and the Champions League. He also used it when he won the French Super Cup. For the French Cup, it is not necessary to maintain the same numbering. That is why in this competition Messi recovers his famous identification and Neymar takes 11.
The curiosity is that both in this season and in the previous one, when he took the 10, the rosarino suffered two eliminations. In the first course, it was on penalties, following a 0-0 once morest Nice. Leo converted his finisher, but Leandro Paredes -now on loan at Juventus- failed his.
The French Cup becomes the only competition that Messi participates without being able to win it. In all the others, both at the club level and in the selected one, on some occasion he obtained the title. The other empty box is in youth, with the South American Sub 20 of 2005.
PSG’s concern goes through an unmitigated defeat six days following hosting Bayern Munich in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League, a tournament that does represent a concern for the club that is managed by Qatari funds. For that match, Mbappé would not be in a position to reappear, who is expected in retaliation, on March 8.
Messi’s performance was discreet, was overwhelmed by the intensity of Olympique. There were few associations with Neymar in a team that was very slow at times, suffocated by the opponent’s pressure. In Olympique the Chilean was unbalancing Alexis Sanchez, who maintained the impact he achieved in Ligue 1 in his first season in French football.
After a penalty committed by Sergio Ramos, Sánchez put Olympique ahead. Already in stoppage time in the first stage, in one of the few arrivals, Sergio Ramos made it 1-1 when he headed in a corner.
Olympique stuck to their ambitious plan and took advantage of the pressure on Neymar near the PSG box. The recovered ball led to an attack that the Ukrainian Malinovskiy defined with a powerful left foot.
Galtier added a third striker with the entry of Ekitike, but PSG had no arguments to change history. The PSG coach made no excuses: “It’s a disappointment. We were bad offensively. We must learn from the lessons of this match. The players are overwhelmed, This is not the time to speak loudly, you have to focus on work ”.
THE NATION
