Paris Saint-Germain’s journey to Rennes on Sunday is about to be the primary time their celebrity entrance three of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar have all performed collectively for the reason that World Cup. Mbappe returned to coaching on Thursday having been given 10 days off after getting back from Qatar and taking part in in PSG’s first two video games following the event. He jetted off to New York for a break and was nowhere to be seen as Messi made his comeback, and scored, in a 2-0 victory for the Ligue 1 leaders towards Angers on Wednesday.

The World Cup was a transparent motivating issue within the trio’s excellent kind in the course of the early months of the marketing campaign, and the way they play collectively can be essential in figuring out how the rest of the season goes for PSG.

They are six factors away from Lens earlier than finishing the primary half of the season in Rennes, however the Champions League is their foremost goal.

After failing to return high of their group, Christophe Galtier’s aspect have been drawn to play Bayern Munich within the final 16, with the primary leg at residence set for February 14.

Galtier described the 35-year-old Messi as “relaxed and in great shape physically” after his first match since captaining Argentina to a penalty shoot-out victory over Mbappe’s France in an epic World Cup closing final month.

The query now could be how a lot motivation the previous Barcelona star has after that career-defining triumph.

PSG are eager to increase his contract within the French capital into a 3rd season and Messi’s largest aim now can be to win the Champions League for the primary time since 2015.

Fuelled by shedding the World Cup closing regardless of scoring a hat-trick, 2018 world champion Mbappe can be determined to get his fingers on the Champions League trophy for the primary time.

Neymar, in the meantime, seems a bit of just like the odd man out — he left the World Cup in tears as Brazil misplaced on penalties within the quarter-finals, conscious his likelihood of successful that trophy could have gone eternally.

He was then despatched off in PSG’s first recreation post-Qatar towards Strasbourg, finishing a depressing finish to 2022.

But for PSG it isn’t nearly these three.

They look gentle in defence, the place they seem overly reliant on an ageing Sergio Ramos, and wanting muscle in midfield, an space the place a fragile Marco Verratti is their key participant.

Galtier insists they nonetheless want time to get again on top of things.

“We are all just getting used to playing together again and you could see at times that we lacked some of the connections between the players that we had more often before the World Cup,” he mentioned after the midweek recreation.

Player to look at: Ross Barkley

If the England midfielder hoped to relaunch his profession in France, the transfer was not understanding for the 29-year-old former Everton prodigy as he struggled to make a critical influence within the first three months of the season. Things have improved for him initially of 2023, nonetheless. Barkley scored an excellent aim towards Rennes on January 2 in a 2-1 defeat, after which got here off the bench to attain twice in Wednesday’s 6-1 thrashing of Montpellier.

The latter recreation was additionally the primary for Nice since coach Lucien Favre was sacked and changed by Didier Digard. Barkley will hope to make a higher impression below a brand new supervisor within the months forward with the membership owned by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

Key stats

48 – Goals Mbappe, Neymar and Messi have scored between them for his or her membership this season

10 – Bottom aspect Angers have misplaced their final 10 league video games. The document for probably the most consecutive defeats in a single French top-flight season is 12

8 – Rennes have gained their final eight residence league video games.

Fixtures (kick-offs GMT)

Saturday

Lens v Auxerre (1600), Marseille v Lorient (1800), Lyon v Strasbourg (2000)

Sunday

Lille v Troyes (1200), Reims v Nice, Angers v Clermont, Montpellier v Nantes, Toulouse v Brest (all 1400), Monaco v Ajaccio (1605), Rennes v Paris Saint-Germain (1945)

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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