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Should Messi and Mbappe leave PSG to preserve their future legacies? | THE FOOTBALL SHOW

With PSG struggling to inspire with their performances, The Independent's Dan McDonnell feels Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe need to leave Paris for their own good.



Should Messi and Mbappe leave...
Soccer

Should Messi and Mbappe leave PSG to preserve their future legacies? | THE FOOTBALL SHOW

With PSG struggling to inspire with their performances, The Independent's Dan McDonnell feels Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe need to leave Paris for their own good.

Paris Saint-Germain are currently six points clear atop the Ligue 1 table, and look set to defend their league title this season. However, their form in recent weeks, and their displays on the pitch, have not matched their position on the table.

With two of the best players in the world in Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe on the pitch, it would be expected for the Paris club to light up every game in which the pair start.

This was not the case on Sunday where Lyon beat PSG 1-0, and the electric pair were almost non-existent on the pitch. For Dan McDonnell, who watched the 1-0 defeat on Sunday, at least one of Mbappe and Messi should consider moving away from the club at the end of the season.

Speaking on The Football Show, McDonnell looked at the lack of excitement coming from two of the best players in the world while playing in Paris.

"They were dreadfully bad," McDonnell said. "It finished 1-0 to Lyon. I'd like to say it was a siege, but it was not a siege at all.

"I was thinking, 'have they watched Ireland and how they neutralised Mbappe here?' He won a corner or two, but he was completely, sort of, drifting away, not involved.

"Messi on a good day walks around as much as he walks around on a bad day, he was only strolling around the place. Maybe it was a team that knows they're going to win the league... but they were awful though!"

The reports suggest that Argentina's talisman will leave Paris during the summer window.

"It was unacceptable," McDonnell said. "I know he's got the contract, I know he's got the position of power and all that, but surely he's got to get out of there. He's got to make it happen.

"I'm very conscious it was just watching one game, but their form has been indifferent, they didn't win [Ligue 1] the year before last year.

"There is a sense of 'your legacy is going to be damaged by spending a lot of time here'. The World Cup has shown how thrilling he is. He's the best player to watch in the world now when he's in full flow, and you're watching him here going 'meh'."

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