Lionel Messi, in the team maze that is PSG, has a more complicated path to goal

Paris Saint Germain closed its football year under the worrying shadow it cannot dispel. His game and collective level arouse suspicions, which he could not even hide against a Lorient who is penultimate in the French League; He came with eight consecutive defeats - one for the local cup - and he has not won for more than two months. He was seconds away from breaking that streak because he had done better - tough defense and sharp counterattacks - but PSG tends to find a goal even when it disappoints.

This time it was with Mauro Icardi, the starter because Kylian Mbappé was suspended, who with a header at 46 minutes of the second half reached a harrowing 1-1 draw. Something to rescue in PSG's faded night in French Brittany? The insistence and the success of achieving equality when more than five minutes I had one more minor player for the expulsion of Sergio Ramos.

Without Mbappé or the injured Neymar, Lionel Messi remained the only reference of the most famous offensive trident in Europe for the first time. If 90 minutes are taken, the influence and imbalance that Mbappé prints are on a larger scale than what Messi has been doing. Leo continues to look for his places and moments in a team that does not facilitate his task because he depends more on the will of his individualities than on automatisms and collective assembly. And here, the one pointed out is Mauricio Pochettino, who admitted his responsibility for the first half in which PSG was a disaster after the game.

Of course, Messi, as a great soloist, also has to contribute to this very particular structure of PSG, almost the antipodes of the Manchester City and Bayern Munich scripts, two teams with group identity. Messi left Lorient with a shot on the post even with a discontinuous level. Another one barely deflected, and in the final stretch of the second half, he demanded two covers from the goalkeeper.

Messi was close to the goal that resists him so much in the French League without dazzling. Made one in 11 games. His average improves significantly in the Champions League: five in five games.

Messi's shot on a pole

Messi will be arriving in the next few hours in Argentina and his family to spend the Holidays. He will rejoin PSG training on January 2. He leaves behind a very moving year for him. Summarized in figures between Barcelona, PSG, and the Argentine national team, during 2021, he played 61 games and scored 43 goals.

In the list of the top scorers of the year, he was in sixth place, possibly being reached by Harry Kane, who has 41 and has two Premier League games with Tottenham ahead. The list of the most effective is headed, for the third consecutive year, Robert Lewandowski, with 69 goals, followed by Mbappé (51), Erling Haaland (47), Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema (both with 46).

Incredible what Di María lost

This Wednesday, Messi's world record marked nine years, which in 2012 pulverized all records with 91 goals in 69 games. Who will face 2022 with another goal as World Cup, which will be held in Qatar between November and December?

Regarding the match for the last date of the first round, the usual defects detected in PSG were more accentuated in the first half, with the aggravating factor that there was a rival in front who came from one blow after another. Lorient was no cute, and perhaps that processed him with an understatement that led to infuriating sloppiness. In those 45 minutes, he dominated (81 percent of possession) for almost nothing. In each loss, he again exposed himself as a very disjointed team, without pressure or cut to avoid Lorient's counterattacks, which if he did not obtain a more comprehensive advantage than 1 -0 was due to the limitations of his forwards in the last 25 meters.

Lorient's goal

With 19 percent control of the ball, Lorient finished 11 times (four on target) against six for PSG (a shot from Messi off the post). Pochettino's team chewed the game without ideas or surprise. A flat football, with Messi at a trot, tries to find some space between the two well-compressed lines of four locals. Icardi had the goal in the second minute, with a touch that was stuck to a post after a Mendes cross. However, it was not the announcement because PSG was moving at a leisurely pace and was forced to run backward, in a disorderly retreat, without taking the marks on the Lorient replicas.

More than ever, PSG depended on some individual flash. Messi had it when he took a pass from Di María and took a shot that hit a stick. Leo and Fideo sought each other more than in connections with Icardi. At 30 minutes, the first filtered pass from Messi was given to Icardi, who at the entrance to the area was controlled by a defender.

After wasting more than one counterattack, Lorient polished an offensive move with various combinations to finish with a Monconduit goal from outside the area. The first 45 minutes must have been the worst of the Pochettino era, about a year after arriving at the French club.

For the second stage, the Argentine coach arranged a line of three defenders with the entry of Sergio Ramos, who a long recovery from an injury only allowed him to play the second game. However, the tone of the development was not changed: Lorient kept the wall of 10 players in his field. Messi opened a fissure with perfect control of the air from a pass from Ramos and an overflow that sought to enable Icardi, but the ball fell to Di María, who from a goal served made a high shot. Incredible, as reflected by Fideo's facial expression after the definition.

PSG did not correct its deficiencies to cut off local counterattacks. It continued to suffer, though Lorient's resistance already showed cracks from wear and tear. So confused, Paris Saint Germain seemed to start the break for the Holidays on the field, neglecting his football obligations and responsibilities, more aware of the Christmas table than the ball and the tactical order. Messi continues to unravel that team maze, full of lights and shadows.