Messi and Mbappe humiliated after PSG beat Liverpool

Robin Bairner

• 12 Mar 2025 08:05 CDT
• 4 min read

Analysis

PSG produced a result and performance that stunned world football on Tuesday as they dispatched Liverpool from the Champions League.

Ousmane Dembele’s goal gave Luis Enrique’s side a 1-0 victory at Anfield and cancelled out the fortuitous lead that the Reds had earned six days earlier in Paris.

READ MORE: Salah's revenge mission: Darwin Nunez OUT, Ballon d'Or IN for Liverpool stay

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Kylian Mbappé

F (C)

Real Madrid

Kylian Mbappé

F (C)

Real Madrid

€151.6M

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€136.4M - €166.8M

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With PSG progressing on penalties thanks to the heroics of Gianluigi Donnarumma, few would argue that the better side over the two games progressed to face Aston Villa or Club Brugge in the quarter-finals.

It was a display that will have had Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe watching through their fingers, though.

Along with Neymar, the most expensive player in the history of the game, this trio were expected to fire PSG to Champions League glory.

READ MORE: Van Dijk to PSG? Liverpool star spotted in talks after Champions League clash

Instead, they were responsible for a series of remarkable meltdowns as Les Parisiens repeatedly came up short in a whole variety of manners.

What was most notable about the PSG of the Messi and Mbappe era was the lack of unity within the squad. At times, it appeared the front three acted distinctly from the rest of the team: there was a three-man attack who had no other responsibilities.

The PSG of old were a team fuelled with individualism, yet that has been flushed out of the team by Luis Enrique, who has instead forged a side that is more reminiscent of the great Barcelona side he produced a decade ago. It’s not quite tiki-taka, but it’s the closest a modern-day team is coming to that.

More united than ever

This no egos policy is perhaps best personified by Mbappe’s ultimate replacement in Paris: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The Georgia winger, signed at a cost of €70 million from Napoli in January, was repeatedly caught scampering back to block Liverpool insurgences down the PSG left. Crucially, there was nothing half-hearted about his work that way it may have been with Mbappe.

While drama followed the France international due to his positioning on the pitch, there is no hint of such trouble from ‘Kvaradona’.

“When you play for PSG, it doesn't matter. You have to attack, try to score, and give your best regardless of your position. I just want to play, and the position doesn't really matter,” he said prior to the Anfield match.

Although PSG have been playing in this fashion for some months, their exploits are beginning to capture notice from a wider audience.

Speaking to CBS before the Liverpool clash, former Italy international striker Christian Vieri said: “I’m going to predict the two finalists: PSG and Barcelona.

“PSG are in their best form of the year. The way I saw them last week was the best I’ve seen them in five or six years. Tonight, we’re going to see if PSG are a big team or not.”

It turns out that PSG are – and that should be a source of embarrassment for both Messi and Mbappe.