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Lionel Messi Has Patched Up With PSG Manager Following Controversial Substitution

Published 09/20/2021, 12:00 PM EDT

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Paris Saint Germain shocked the world last week when they were held to a stalemate by Belgian side Club Brugge. Many consider the Paris-based outfit to have the best players in the world and rightly so. The team boasts of players like Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr, Kylian Mbappe, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Achraf Hakimi to name a few.

Despite having so many high-profile names, the team, after their struggles against Brugge had a similar performance against Lyon till Mauro Icardi saved the day. While PSG’s performance was certainly concerning, another incident surprised the fans even more.

Messi makes his full-time debut in Ligue 1 for PSG

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Last night saw Lionel Messi make his full-time debut for Paris Saint Germain in Ligue 1. Many fans expected the former Barcelona captain to have a fiery debut. Alas, that wasn’t the case. The only clear-cut chance he had was during the 25th minute of the match where he rattled the goal post with his freekick.

Messi was unusually quiet by his standards for the rest of the match. It was in the 75th minute when Pochettino shocked the viewers by taking off Messi when in need of a winner.

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“Whether you like it or not” Mauricio Pochettino defends his decision of subbing off Lionel Messi

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Mauricio Pochettino’s substitution wasn’t well-received by Messi as he refused to shake hands with the coach. When asked about the substitution post match, Pochettino revealed, “We have a very rich squad of 35 players. Then we have to make choices. With the 11 who must start. And then we have to make decisions during the game.”

“Sometimes these choices pay off and sometimes they don’t. But that’s why we’re standing in front of the bench thinking about what to do. And those decisions that you have to make, whether things go well or not. Whether you like it or not.” Mauricio then went on to reveal how Messi communicated post-match that he was fine with his decision. “Afterwards, Messi told me he was fine with the decision.

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Written by:

Suresh Menon

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Suresh Menon is a Football and NFL writer at Essentially Sports. He is currently pursuing BMM from St Xaviers College with his specialization in Advertising. Juventus is his favorite football club and he one day plans to go to Italy and watch a Juve match live.
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