Messi and Mbappé looked perfect, they let Paris down

There had been the illusion of perfect understanding. With lots of flashes of the world final: Messi scoring with his right foot, Mbappé with a volley after a deadly one-two. Only this time they send each other in goal, Leo and Kylian. Irresistible for anyone, including Marseille second in Ligue 1 and demolished 0-3 at home. This happened less than a month ago. Today however Paris Saint-Germain are out of the Champions League well in advance, they lost their first home game in the league after 35 (it hasn’t happened since 2021) and the Parc des Princes boos their science fiction champions. Especially the one with the 30 on the shirt, fresh from the success of a lifetime.

In Doha, the match of the century had marked a historic juncture: it had never happened, in the history of the football World Cup, that the technical leaders of the two finalist national teams played in the same club team – let alone making a five-a-side. And with great diplomacy, the Al-Khelaifi family managed to bring their jewels back to Paris in full unity of purpose, looking forward to a dreamy 2023. But something went wrong. Even if according to the data you wouldn’t think it: from January onwards, in the ten games played together, Messi scored 5 goals and served 3 assists, all for Mbappé. Which in turn is 6 plus 2, including the passage for the 700th career goal of the Argentine in clubs. They are goal twin numbers. But who failed the key exam – the double European confrontation against Bayern Munich, dry both in the first leg and in the second leg – and that net of the glittering highlights they tend to tolerate each other more than anything else.

There was also the injury of Neymar, the third tenor, in February against Lille to break the balance. Messi will solve that game with a free kick in the 94th minute, initially dispelling the clouds over PSG. Suddenly though, the full pressure of a rose weighing in gold had piled on a duo. And if in the last 30 meters the ball is enough to understand each other, everything else turned out to be beyond the skills (and perhaps the interest) of Leo and Kylian. Setting up a Playstation team – but missing the assault on the real video game goalscorer, Haaland – implies real downsides: a tight dressing room, between prime ladies (or Donnarumma) of yesterday and tomorrow, divided into small groups (French, Spanish, Portuguese) or bulky unicellular organisms – not just i big three: think of Sergio Ramos, guilty of having cursed “a todo Paris” after leaving the Champions League.

In this sense, betting on Cristophe Galtier didn’t pay off. The coach, who arrived in the summer from Nice and in his first experience in a big club, was disappointing especially in terms of management of the countless talents mistranslated into the team. It’s already time to sum up: a French Super Cup, two eliminations in the round of 16, Ligue 1 on the way, barring sporting suicides – PSG is +7 on a small group of non-irresistible pursuers. The minimum wage. After the last knockout, in these hours the club has decided to continue with Galtier until the end of the season. But for the summer, the fate of the entire technical project seems sealed.

Starting with those three. Neymar, in his usual ups and downs of ballistic prowess, physical woes and whining, is already on the way. Then there is the Messi problem: up until last month optimism filtered over the contract renewal option, the recent disputes in the stadium while the champion lines up alone in the locker room weigh at least as much as the appeals from Barcelona – who that same day, via Sergi Roberto, invited him to “go home”. Not to mention relations with Mbappé, courtesy at best – but not too much: at the Fifa football awards, weeks ago, Leo publicly preferred Neymar and Benzema to him. Therefore remains Kylian, the highest paid footballer in the world and the best scorer in the history of the club (202 goals). Also for this reason, having to choose, the sheikhs would start from him. And he, before facing Bayern, made it clear why: “If I had linked my future to the Champions League, I would have gone very far from here”. Who has ears to hear.