Paris Saint-Germain can expect a "great season" from Lionel Messi after the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner played a starring role alongside Neymar in Saturday's 5-0 defeat of Clermont, says coach Christophe Galtier.
Messi arrived in Paris last summer to much fanfare, but fell short of the massive expectations of fans and his own stratospheric standards as he scored just six league goals in the 2021/22 league campaign.
He already has one third of that tally after only 90 minutes of the 2022/23 season having found the net twice at Clermont, continuing the promising form the 35-year-old had shown during the club's pre-season tour of Japan.
"I talked to Leo during our stay in Japan, and with the defensive sector too to try and ensure that he can perform to the best of his abilities all the time," explained Galtier, whose side marked their new coach's first league game in charge in style.
"He is very sharp, very clear tactically. He sees very quickly where he has to be, the way he has to position himself to play. He's in a zone he likes. He likes playing with players around him. When Leo smiles, the team smiles too."
There were plenty of happy faces among the PSG team at the Stade Gabriel Montpied where the reigning French champions, who could claim a record 11th Ligue 1 Uber Eats title this season, reproduced the sort of devastating display that had earned them the Trophée des Champions against Nantes just six days earlier.
Neymar had stood out in the 4-0 win in Israel, having a hand in all but one of the goals, and the Brazilian superstar did the same at Clermont, netting the opener before teeing up Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos and Messi's first as PSG ran riot in spite of the injury-enforced absence of Kylian Mbappé.
Messi's second was a superb overhead kick late in the game, courtesy of a flighted pass from compatriot Leandro Paredes, that had the entire stadium on its feet applauding and chanting his name.
"Was I surprised by what he did? No, but I liked the goal," said Galtier. "He's been playing at the very top level for 17 years. He had a difficult season last year, he was adapting. Every season before that he'd scored a minimum of 30 goals. Given he's had a full pre-season, is settled both in his family life and at the club, there's no reason he won't have a great season. When he teams up with Kylian, we'll have even more attacking power."
Galtier believes that could happen as early as next weekend when PSG play their first home game of the new season against Montpellier.
"I think he'll be with us next weekend," said Galtier of Mbappé, who missed the Round 1 encounter with an adductor problem. "There was a little scare, we didn't take any risks. If we had been playing a really tough game or a Champions League match, we would have perhaps tried it out."
