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Lionel Messi is BACK in action for the first time since winning the World Cup with Argentina… as he and his PSG teammates don jerseys honoring the late great Pelé ahead of their clash with bottom club Angers.
- Lionel Messi returns to the PSG line-up for the match against Angers
- It is Messi’s first move since lifting the World Cup for Argentina last month.
- The Argentine has scored 12 goals in 19 games with the French team this season
- Kylian Mbappe still not ready to return after his post-World Cup break
Lionel Messi has returned to action for PSG for the first time since he guided Argentina to their World Cup triumph when they kicked off their Ligue 1 clash with Angers on Thursday.
The 35-year-old started for the French champions’ line-up in their home game against a team that is bottom of the league and has lost its last nine games.
Messi and his PSG teammates, including Brazilian star Neymar, wore tribute shirts to the late Pelé in the pre-match warm-up.
Lionel Messi made his first start for PSG since the World Cup in Thursday’s clash with Angers.
Messi and his PSG teammates wore Pelé tribute shirts in the pre-match warm-up
Pelé, considered the greatest of all time, died in December and his funeral was held last week in his native Brazil.
The shirts featured an image of the Brazilian icon accompanied by the word ‘eternal’.
Messi had a two-week break in his home country after the historic triumph in Qatar and returned to Paris last week, where his teammates gave him the guard of honor ahead of their first training session.
Before the break for his World Cup prowess, Messi had scored 12 goals in 19 games for the French team. He did not feature in the club’s victory over third-tier Chateauroux in the French Cup last weekend.
PSG players wore the shirts ahead of their clash against 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 returns with his future at the club still uncertain. His contract in Paris expires at the end of the season, but the league leaders are desperate to lock him into a new contract.
Talks between the two parties had started before the World Cup and confirmation of a new one-year agreement was expected after the events in the Middle East. It has not been clarified that it has been agreed, but Messi has given his assurance that he will put pencil and paper in a contract extension.
Inter Miami refuses to give up hope of jumping in and bringing the World Cup winner to MLS, while links to Messi’s return to Barcelona refuse to fade.
As Messi returns to action, PSG fans will have to wait a bit longer to see Kylian Mbappe once again playing for the club.
The French star, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final, was last seen in New York with teammate Achraf Hakimi and has been given extra time by the club before he makes his own comeback. .
Messi received the guard of honor from his teammates upon returning to training last week
It was only last month that Messi was lifting the World Cup for Argentina in the Middle East.