Kylian Mbappé And Paris Saint-Germain Storm Past Juventus In 2-1 Champions League Victory

Paris Saint-Germain has fabulous elan. All it took was five minutes for the host to ignite its new Champions League campaign with a wonderful strike from Kylian Mbappé. Neymar’s assist was exquisite, a scooped-through ball that spoke of his sizzling form this season. It was a pass of a player at ease with himself and the world, full of confidence. It was the 21st goal and eighth assist with the involvement of the fabled MNM trio this summer.

In these first, opening weeks of the season, the trio has already been far more productive than the last campaign altogether. Messi, Neymar and Mbappé have all returned to form. Blink and you will have missed something. After 22 minutes, Juventus was on the canvas, torn apart by Mbappé’s brilliance. The lightning-heeled striker was at the end of a simple but clever exchange of passes with Achraf Hakimi and fired the ball with unerring precision past the visiting goalkeeper. The pace and precision of PSG’s attack was too much for Juventus.

And so, the MNM show rolled on, with Mbappé as the night’s protagonist. It’s tempting to focus on the trident’s every move. It’s even easier to get drawn into MNM-mania. Messi drifting to the centre, Mbappé dropping off, Neymar in the number ten position. It’s easy to get superlative, even if it all seemed too easy against Juventus, who, indeed played the part of a team that has struggled to get more shots on goal than Sampdoria, Monza and Spezia in Serie A.

PSG was out to make a statement and delivered the kind of barnstorming first 20 minutes that the home support needed. Near the Bois de Boulogne, full of murmur and expectation, the warm, late summer evening made the Parisians long for a convincing result. Everything was set up for a gently bubbling, intricate European tie, one in which Juventus would proffer a bit more resistance, but Mbappé stormed past the defenders with ease and guile, just as he has done countless times and will repeat countless times.

Neymar, Messi and Mbappé are peaking at the right time. The World Cup, the first in winter and the first in the Arab world, is around the corner and all three of them belief that they can propel their nations to the world crown. All three of them will return from Qatar with varying degrees of success and take up PSG’s eternal quest for Champions League victory.

By then, current PSG coach Christophe Galtier should have resolved the tactical conundrum that will define his team’s European season: how can he get his forwards to track back and defend or at a minimum at least occupy space? Neither Messi nor Mbappé tracked back on Tuesday while Neymar did so half-heartedly, becoming the third man midfield in a 5-3-2 formation. But in general, PSG had eight men behind the line of the ball. The forwards became spectators whenever PSG was out of possession and the host’s defence looked chronically vulnerable. PSG’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness and may yet again be its undoing.

Previous coach Pochettino worked toward greater integration of the fabled three. He explained what they had to do, but his advice was not heeded. MNM remained and Pochettino exited. Galtier will also seek greater cohesion between his stars because he knows that to prevail on the European stage PSG needs to be a tight unit. “Every year there are 8 or 9 teams who believe they can win it, and finally there are favorites who don’t go all the way. There are surprises and incredible scenarios,” said Galtier at a news conference. “That the club has the ambition to win is legitimate, but that we are favorites, I don’t think so.”

On the evidence of Tuesday night, Galtier’s assessment is pretty accurate.