Lionel Messi receives rapturous ovation from 49,000 fans as PSG beat Strasbourg

Lionel Messi was introduced to some 49000 fans in a full Parc des Princess stadium before watching his teammates beat Strasbourg 42 on Ligue 1 action late on Saturday eveningThe former Barcelona ace was presented with PSGs other four summer signings Sergio Ramos Gianluigi Donnarumma Georginio Wijnaldum and Achraf Hakimi in a welcome ceremony at the centre of the pitch just one hour before the kickoffFrom L Paris SaintGermains Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi Paris SaintGermains Dutch mifielider Georginio Wijnaldum Paris SaintGermains Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma Paris SaintGermains Spanish defender Sergio Ramos and Paris SaintGermains Argentinian forward Lionel Messi pose during a presentation ceremony prior to the French L1 football match between Paris SaintGermain and Racing Club Strasbourg at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris PicAFPThe sixtime Ballon dOr winner then joined Neymar and his fellow Argentine Angel di Maria to watch from the stands as Mauricio Pochettinos side escaped a fightback from the visitors in the second half to pocket their second win in as many games in the new seasonMauro Icardi opened the scoring for PSG only two minutes into the game and Kylian Mbappe made it 20 in the 25th minute before the French forward set up another for Julian Draxler only two minutes later Xinhua reportsAlso Read Messi wife cried at the thought of telling kids about Barca exitStrasbourg created more chances in the second half and clawed back to 32 thanks to two headers from Kevin Gameiro and Ludovic Ajorque But they suffered a blow in the closing period when Alexander Djiku fouled on Icardi to receive his second yellow card and make his team being reduced to 10 menPablo Sarabia tapped in PSGs fourth from Mbappes cross in the 86th minute to make the score out of Strasbourgs reachMbappe whose contract with PSG is to expire next year has been linked with Real Madrid recently as home fans whistled at the 22yearold amid transfer speculationI did not hear the whistles Pochettino insisted I am happy with him Hes focused on what he needs to do and had a really good game He must continue on this pathPSGs president Nasser alKhelaifi has said on Wednesday at the unveiling ceremony of Messi that Mbappe has no reason to leave since PSG now is the right place for him to seek for the trophiesEarlier in the day defending champions Lille were hammered 40 at home by Nice whose coach Christophe Galtier had led Lille to the title last season and arrived in the southern French team this summerDenmark striker Kasper Dolberg hit a brace for Nice with Hicham Boudaoui and Amine Gouiri were also on targetAlso Read Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti surprised by Lionel Messi leaving BarcelonaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever