The Argentine superstar scored twice as the Ligue 1 defending champions made a strong start to the season.
Lionel Messi spurred Paris Saint-Germain to a strong start to the season with a resounding victory against Clermont Foot on Saturday. The 35-year-old Argentine and Neymar Jr put on a brilliant performance to lead the Ligue 1 champions to a 5-0 victory, with the former hitting a spectacular acrobatic goal that drew praise from all over.
PSG did not have much to worry about in the absence of Kylian Mbappe, with Lionel Messi and Neymar on the field, and the two did more than enough to carry their team to victory. Neymar scored PSG’s first goal of the 2022-23 season inside the opening 10 minutes before combining to score two of the night’s five goals.
Soon after, Achraf Hakimi received a cross-field pass from Neymar and hammered the ball into the top right corner from 10 yards. Marquinhos then made it three goals in 40 minutes with another header before the game was called to a halt for half-time.
In contrast to the first half, the goals in the second half were saved for later. Nonetheless, Lionel Messi scored twice to put the game out of reach for Clermont. In the 80th minute, he scored his first goal by waiting for a cutback pass from Neymar Jr and sending the ball past goalkeeper Morry Diaw. Shortly after, a pass from Leandro Paredes picked up the former Barcelona talisman’s run, and with his back to the goal, he expertly controlled the ball with his chest before finishing acrobatically.
Watch:
MESSI 🤯 pic.twitter.com/KNLvuMdxdr
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) August 6, 2022
