Against Reims, Messi made his second appearance for Paris after a gap of 31 days. In the first game of 2022, Messi sent an indirect assist 3 minutes after coming off the bench, taking the upper hand in the air PK with old opponent C Ronaldo.
Messi last made his last appearance on 23 December 2021, when he started against Lorient. After that, Messi returned to Argentina for a holiday, contracted the new crown virus, and has been undergoing recovery training since returning to France on January 5.
It is worth mentioning that Messi's opponent when he made his Paris debut was Reims, when he came off the bench to replace Herrera. 128 days later, Messi ushered in the first game of 2022, against Reims, and he came off the bench again.
After 31 days of his first appearance, Messi is still in good shape, and just 4 minutes after the substitute, Messi sent an assist for Verratti. Unfortunately, Ligue 1 officials finally decided that it was a oolong ball, and Messi's assist was lost.
It is a little regrettable that in the 25 minutes of the substitute appearance, Messi only had one shot on goal and failed to break the goal. In 2022, Ronaldo and Messi, who have made three appearances, have not yet scored, which is a rather rare scene.
However, sending an indirect assist gave Messi the upper hand in the air battle between the two. In addition, in 25 minutes, Messi completed 2 breakthroughs, while Ronaldo has not broken through in 261 minutes.
In the 25 minutes of his appearance, Messi touched the ball 44 times, 35 passes and 26 successful passes. However, he also conceded 12 goals. This shows that Messi has not yet recovered to his best condition.
On the following international matchday, Messi was not called into the Argentine national team, and he was able to stay at the club to continue training, which would help him fully recover his peak form before the Start of the Champions League. Facing old rivals Real Madrid, Messi's performance is worth paying attention to.