PARIS – Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier watched Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar tear Maccabi Haifa apart in the Champions League on Tuesday and admitted he was a lucky man to have the trio at his command.
Messi scored twice, as did Mbappe, while Neymar was also on target in the 7-2 win that ensured PSG moved into the last 16 of the Champions League from Group H. The other goals were an own goal by Sean Goldberg and a late Carlos Soler strike. Maccabi scored via a brace from Abdoulaye Seck.
Messi now has 129 Champions League goals and, despite being 35, looks set to keep scoring, especially with Mbappe and Neymar alongside him in a 4-3-3 formation.
“I saw the players enjoy themselves, and that’s very important,” Galtier said. “I had to think about how our fantastic three players up front could express themselves as best as possible and that the system could be very important.
“It’s very pleasant to train them, to see them play every day. For a coach, it’s paradise.”
Messi and Mbappe also ended with two assists each, while Neymar’s dribble forced Goldberg’s own goal as the trio proved unplayable at times.
“I had a front-row seat to watch them tonight,” PSG midfielder Vitinha said. “We’re all impressed, because they do things that others can’t.”
The result means PSG, who netted seven times in a Champions League game for the first time since November 2017, have qualified from Group H along with Benfica, although it will go down to next week’s final match day to decide who advances in first place.
Maccabi are eliminated along with Juventus but the Israeli champions could still pip the Italian giants to third place and Europa League football after the World Cup break.
“I prefer to lose 7-2 than 4-0 playing bad football,” said their coach Barak Bakhar. “We were up against the best players in the world and they proved it tonight.”
Mbappe’s latest goals – his fifth and sixth in this season’s Champions League took his tally to 16 in all competitions – came a day after reports emerged in France of the eye-watering details of his new contract at PSG.
Newspaper Le Parisien reported on Monday that the club were paying him a total of €630 million (S$888.5 million) before tax over the duration of the three-year deal he signed in May.
The net sum would be slightly less than half that amount. The figures reported are higher than the €555 million gross that Messi was reported by Spanish daily El Mundo to have earned over his final four years at Barcelona. REUTERS, AFP
