Lionel Messi is BACK in action for the first time since winning the World Cup with Argentina… as he and his PSG team-mates don T-shirts honouring the late great Pele ahead of clash against bottom-placed Angers
- Lionel Messi makes his return to the PSG line-up for their game against Angers
- It’s Messi’s first action since lifting the World Cup for Argentina last month
- The Argentinian has scored 12 goals in 19 games for the French side this season
- Kylian Mbappe not yet ready to return after his break following the World Cup
Lionel Messi has returned to action for PSG for the first time since guiding Argentina to their World Cup triumph as he started their Ligue 1 clash with Angers on Thursday.
The 35-year-old started for the French champions line-up in the home clash against a side who are bottom of the league and have lost their last nine games.
Messi and his PSG team-mates, including Brazilian star Neymar, wore t-shirts paying tribute to the late Pele in the warm-up prior to the game.
Lionel Messi has made his first start for PSG since the World Cup in Thursday’s clash with Angers
Messi and his PSG team-mates wore t-shirts paying tribute to Pele in the warm-up before the game
Pele, considered as the greatest of all time, died in December and his funeral was held in his native Brazil last week.
The t-shirts featured a picture of the Brazilian icon accompanied with the word ‘eterno’.
Messi was given a two-week break in his home country following the historic triumph in Qatar and returned to Paris last week, where his team-mates gave him a guard of honour before his first training session back.
Before the break for his World Cup heroics, Messi had scored 12 goals in 19 games for the French side. He did not take part in the club’s win at third-tier side Chateauroux in the French Cup last weekend.
PSG players wore the t-shirts before their clash with Angers at the Parc des Princes on Thursday
Messi has not played for PSG since helping Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar in December
Messi makes his return with his future at the club still unclear. His contract in Paris runs out at the end of the season, but the league leaders are desperate to tie him down to a new deal.
Talks between both parties had begun before the World Cup and confirmation on a new one-year deal was expected following events in the middle east. There has been no clarification that it has been agreed, but Messi has given his assurance that he will put pen to paper on a contract extension.
Inter Miami refuse to give up hope on swooping in and bringing the World Cup winner to the MLS, while the links to a return to Barcelona for Messi refuse to go away.
As Messi makes his return to action, PSG fans will have to wait a little longer to see Kylian Mbappe back playing for the club.
The French star, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup Final, was last seen in New York with team-mate Achraf Hakimi and has been given extra time by the club before he makes his own return.
Messi was given a guard of honour by his team-mates on returning to training last week
It was only last month that Messi was lifting the World Cup for Argentina in the middle east
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