We can call it tough love, but it’s true, Lionel Messi just loves Pep Guardiola, but also loves to score against him. The Argentinian finally scored his maiden goal for PSG, and he did it in a perfect moment: In a Champions League, to seal the win and against Manchester City, who knocked out the Parisians in the last season’s semi-final. This was Messi’s 7th Champions League goal against the Citizens, and no other player scored more. And he also scored 7 goals against teams managed by Pep Guardiola. But the Spaniard still loves his former player.7 – Lionel Messi has scored more UEFA Champions League goals against Man City (7) than any other player, while his seven goals against sides managed by Pep Guardiola (two vs Bayern Munich, five against Man City with him as manager) are also the most of any player. Haunting. pic.twitter.com/wPAYIZTx2R— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 28, 2021 Guardiola hailed Messi in the post-match press conference, stating that it’s impossible to defend him for 90 minutes, but also claimed City was a better team.”I wish him the best, if he is happy and enjoying this period in Paris I will be happy. He decided for many reasons to come here, for him and his family. I wish him the best. The Messi goal was fantastic. We know it’s impossible to control Leo during the whole 90 minutes but he was not much in touch with the ball. We know quite well when he can run and get close to the box he is unstoppable. The only options I know is to defend deep for 90 minutes deep and pray or to take the ball and try to play your game. That’s football. It’s a pity. Now we are going to eat good tonight, drink a glass of wine and recover before Liverpool on Sunday” said Guardiola. Messi’s debut goal for PSG seals the win against Manchester CityThe player himself was pleased to finally score for the new club, as the pressure was really huge for Messi to finally hit the net, but also to find chemistry with Neymar and Mbappe.“I hadn’t been able to play recently and this was only my second game in this stadium. I’m adapting to my new team. The more we forwards play together the better our relationship will be. We all need to grow together and improve and keep giving our best. City were great opponents. It was very important for us to win the match after our draw against Brugge. I’m very happy to have scored” said Messi.Après cette victoire face à Manchester City, le président Nasser Al-Khelaïfi est allé féliciter les joueurs dans le vestiaire 🔴🔵#𝐏𝐒𝐆𝐌𝐂𝐈 pic.twitter.com/yR0biMPO1X— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) September 28, 2021 Such a big win was a reason for owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi to go into the locker room after the match and congratulate the players, the scorer included. Sheik hugged Messi before saying “One goal, now, finish”. The French press was trying to find out the meaning of these words and come up with two of them: The first, certainly the most likely, would serve to indicate to Messi that his adventure with the club is definitely launched. No more physical glitches or other surprise replacement after this first pawn: “A goal and it’s over”. The other would be that the president of PSG already has in mind the ultimate goal of going to the end (“finish”) and winning the Champions League for the first time.
