Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe out on a show in Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-0 victory over Olympique de Marseille on Sunday at the Stade Vélodrome.
Messi recorded two assists to Kylian Mbappe, who scored a brace, and then got in on the scoring too. The performance by the duo has RMC Sport pundit Daniel Riolo believing that Messi and Mbappe can work together offensively.
However, when Neymar Jr. is in the starting 11, and the trio works as a unit, it doesn’t function, Riolo added.
“In front, when there are only two of them and Messi can find Mbappe, there they are, the boulevards,” Riolo said Sunday on After Foot RMC. “But we don’t discover anything, the fact that the three can’t play together, we’ve always known that it doesn’t work.
“All the managers say it (…) it’s as if they feel that there is an obligation [to align them], that they cannot free themselves from that (…) I don’t not exclude that Christophe Galtier understands it and that, even when Neymar returns, he says to him: ‘Sir, your place is on the bench’ because the three cannot play together.”
Neymar remains out with an ankle injury he suffered during the dramatic win on Feb. 19 against Lille OSC. The 31-year-old also missed the PSG and Olympique de Marseille contest and will likely be out for the FC Nantes match on Saturday.
As a result, manager Christophe Galtier will have to decide whether to rush Neymar for the second-leg game against Bayern Munich on March 8 at Allianz Arena and risk interrupting the Messi-Mbappe chemistry.