"Playing with Messi is easy, he's the best in the world!" - When Kylian Mbappe hailed ex-PSG teammate Lionel Messi
Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe once hailed his former PSG strike partner Lionel Messi as the best in the game. The duo played together at the Parc des Princes for two seasons, between 2021 and 2023.
Messi left that summer on a free transfer to join MLS side Inter Miami. Mbappe stayed on for a year before joining Los Blancos this summer, scoring on his competitive debut in his side's 2-0 UEFA Super Cup win over Atalanta in Warsaw last week.
Meanwhile, a few days after Messi had won his record-extending seventh Ballon d'Or in 2021, the Argentine scored twice in PSG's 4-1 home win over Club Brugge in their final UEFA Champions League group game. Mbappe, who also bagged a brace in that game, hailed his teammate as the best in the world (via TNT Sports):
"It's easy to play with Lionel Messi. He's the best player in the world. He won the Ballon d'Or a few days ago. He scored two goals today. I hope he's happy, and I hope he will help us in the future."
Fast forward to the summer of 2024, Mbappe scored on his Los Blancos debut but couldn't do so on his La Liga debut for the side. Meanwhile, Messi has been out injured since suffering an ankle injury in Argentina's 1-0 extra-time win over Colombia in the 2024 Copa America final in Miami last month.
How Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi fared together at PSG
As mentioned earlier, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi played together at PSG during the 2021-22 and the 2022-23 seasons after the Argentine ended a 17-season stint at Barcelona.
In 67 games together - with both players on the field at the same time - Messi and Mbappe combined for 34 joint goal contributions. Mbappe scored 20 of those goals, and Messi the remaining.
The duo twice combined for three goal contributions in the same game. In the 3-0 Ligue 1 win at AC Ajaccio in the 2022-23 season, Messi bagged a goal and two assists, with Mbappe scoring twice. That same season - in a 3-0 Ligue 1 win at Marseille - the duo repeated the trick, with Messi once again setting up Mbappe twice and scoring one himself.
Although the duo helped PSG win back-to-back Ligue 1 titles, they couldn't break through in the UEFA Champions League - where they endured consecutive Round-of-16 exits.