There was a time when a reunion between Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola looked distinctly possible, but on Tuesday they will be on opposite sides again when Paris Saint-Germain plays Manchester City in the Champions League.
Messi has played just three games for his new club and is yet to score. He has sat out PSG’s last two matches with a knee problem but the feeling is that coach Mauricio Pochettino has been saving him for City.
After being held 1-1 by Club Brugge in its opening game, PSG needs a positive result against City to stop its rivals taking control of the group.
Desperate to win
This time the expectation is both City and PSG will progress from their group and both Messi and Guardiola are desperate to win the Champions League again.
While the world waits to see how Messi’s move to Paris turns out, Guardiola continues to regret the absence of a prolific centre-forward as the final piece of his jigsaw at City.
“The club needs in the next years a striker. When it’s not possible, it’s not possible, we move on with the fantastic squad we have,” he said.
PSG, of course, has more than one such player. Kylian Mbappe has been the top scorer in France in each of the last three seasons.
Nobody knows Messi’s game better than Guardiola, but nobody knows better than Pep that there is no stopping Messi when he is at the top of his game.
