Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier watched Lionel Messi score a brilliant winner in Saturday’s game against Toulouse FC and then urged his team to get the ball to the World Cup winner as often as possible.
Messi fired in a brilliant second-half winner as PSG came from behind to beat Toulouse 2-1 in the absence of both Kylian Mbappé and Neymar at the Parc des Princes. The victory left the Parisians eight points clear at the top of the table before nearest challengers Olympique de Marseille and RC Lens both play on Sunday.
It came with PSG still reeling after losing Mbappé for three weeks to a thigh injury suffered in Wednesday’s 3-1 win in Montpellier, and with Sergio Ramos and Marco Verratti also sidelined, the latter due to suspension. Galtier also saw Renato Sanches go off with a hamstring injury early in Saturday’s game.
“Leo is holding the team together,” Galtier told Amazon Prime. “It is not just two players we are missing. Kylian and ‘Ney’ are out but there is also Marco Verratti and Sergio Ramos. Leo is a natural leader. He is so important to the way the team plays so we need to get the ball to him more.”
Vitinha’s role
PSG lined up with a midfield diamond against Toulouse, with Carlos Soler and Fabián Ruiz to the sides and Vitinha the furthest forward. They toiled at times in the first half as Branco van den Boomen put the away side ahead before Achraf Hakimi equalised.
“Vitinha was a bit too much in Leo’s zone in the first half. I said at half-time that ‘Viti’ needed to move a bit more over to the left to free up Leo and that meant we were a bit more balanced in attack,” Galtier said.
“We managed to get the win and have done so in the last two matches despite finding ourselves in a difficult situation both times and being without key players.”
PSG’s next game is a huge Coupe de France last-16 tie away to Marseille at the Orange Vélodrome on Wednesday before they go to AS Monaco in the league next weekend.
>> MATCH REPORT: Messi and Hakimi score stunners in PSG win
