Just A Cameo, Lionel Messi Makes His Debut For Paris Saint-Germain

Lionel Mess0 (Twitter @PSG_English)

JAKARTA - Lionel Messi's debut for Paris Saint-Germain caught the attention of many parties, but he only played a cameo role when Kylian Mbappe led Les Parisiens to beat Reims 2-0 in the fourth week of the French League match at the Auguste-Delaune Stadium, Sunday local time.

The superstar only came on as a substitute in the 66th minute for his PSG debut, when Mbappe had already scored two goals against Reims.

The first step for Leo Messi in the #SDRPSG pic.twitter.com/tuMP7HPHIk

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 29, 2021

Launching Antara, Monday, Mbappe opened PSG's advantage in the 16th minute. He sprinted past Angel Di Maria's superb cross and headed home hard without giving goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic a chance to react.

Reims almost hit back in the 41st minute when Moreto Cassama fired in an ambitious shot that had trouble for goalkeeper Keylor Navas, but the ball only grazed the outside of the post.

Six minutes into the second half Reims' hard work seemed to have paid off when Marshall Munetsi grabbed a wild ball from El Toure's header which Navas failed to anticipate.

However, the hosts' public celebration turned into disappointment after VAR spent three minutes reviewing Munetsi's alleged offside and referee Francois Letexier was instructed to annull the goal.

Reims' misfortune continued. In the 63rd minute they failed to anticipate a PSG counter-attack which ended with a good pull from Achraf Hakimi and Mbappe just finished it with a simple flick to double the visitors' advantage.

Three minutes later the moment football fans have been waiting for finally happened to see Messi playing not in a Barcelona jersey or the Argentine national team. He came in for Neymar.

However, except for a little cooperation in attack with Mbappe who managed to cut the ranks of Reims players, almost nothing interesting was presented by Messi.

The next interesting action was Mitchell van Bergen's effort to get Reims back from a tight angle, but it was countered by Navas, who managed to keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 win.

Game over in Reims as @KMbappe's brace seals victory for the visitors! ️⚽️@StadeDeReims 0️⃣ - 2️⃣ @PSG_English #SDRPSG pic.twitter.com/AqzSRivJ8a

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 29, 2021

PSG have a full 12 points from their first four games of the season and are top of the table again, while winless Reims (3) have fallen to 17th, according to the French League's official website.

For PSG fans they will have to wait another two weeks to see Messi don his team nationality, as the league enters the international break. It was not impossible at that time that PSG had lost Mbappe, who was the target of Real Madrid's transfer offer.

After the international break, PSG will host promoted side Clermont at the Parc des Princes and Reims travel to Rennes on the weekend of 11-12 September.