Without Messi, PSG has put together its party: Mbappé’s historic ‘little hand’, blow against a regional team and qualification for the French Cup

With a historical ‘little hand’ and in the absence of rest of Lionel Messi, kylian mbappe he put together his party with the paris saint germainwho comfortably made it through to the round of 16 of the French Cupwith a sensational 7-0 against the modest Countries of Casselwhich competes in the regional Sixth Division.

Only with eleven minutes awayIn the first half, the French striker had already signed a hat-trick, which he then extended to one player, becoming the first player in PSG history to convert so many goals in one competitive match.

For the team that moved home to Lens due to the modesty and low capacity of its stadium, it was enough to share a draw with a rival who multiplies the value of its squad (900 million euros against just 400 thousand), full of stars who, for exception of Leo Messi, excluded by the coach Christian GaltierThey were part of the duel.

With a recognizable team, full of titles, the leader of Ligue 1 has faced the commitment, which has reflected the enormous distance between the two teams from the outset. The Pays de Cassel’s resistance did not reach the half hour mark because in the 29th minute Mbappé opened the scoring, who also scored in the 34th and 40th minutes, after assisting Neymar in doubling the team’s lead.

The festival continued in the second part. Mbappe signed the fifth, the fourth in his account, with a pass from Neymar and the sixth came with the Spaniard Charles Soler. The Parisian goalscorer repeated himself in the final stretch to score a ball served by his friend Achraf Hakimi.

The five goals also allowed Mbappe to become the top scorer in the history of the ‘Coupe’, a tournament held since 1918, with a total of 29 victories (in just 25 games played for Monaco and PSG), as well as Jean-Pierre Papin (he made them between Marseille and Bordeaux), and one more than the Portuguese Miguel Pauletta (28 with Bordeaux and PSG).

As a formality, PSG have passed the round to now meet the Olympic Marseillehis next rival in another edition of the classic, and join other finishers such as Lyon, Lorient, Reims, Toulouse, Angers, Lille, Auxerre, Nantes and Lens, from Ligue 1, Paris FC, Grenoble, Rodez and Annecy, from the Ligue 2 and Verzon, survivor of the Fourth Division.

It will be the eighth ‘classic’ cup in the last 22 years and PSG have won them all. Even if Marseille are in the running, with eight straight league wins, which have lifted them to third place, just five points behind the Parisian pack.

The Marseille side have not won the ‘Coupé’ since 1989, while PSG have won six of the last eight editions.

Why didn’t Messi play?

The second half of the 2022-23 season did not start in the best way for Paris Saint Germainused to walk ahead of his French peers: three wins and two losses in five official matches after the World Cup, maintaining first place in Ligue 1 but with just three points ahead of Lens, one of his executioners.

Several figures from the Paris squad represented their teams in Qatar 2022 and made it to the final stages, with how physically taxing it is to play a World Cup mid-season, and they seem to show the buildup of matches. The defeat against Rennes, with Messi, Neymar and Mbappe from the start, was a wake-up call.

This is why Lionel Messi was not called up, after the tour in Saudi Arabia and the 60 minutes played last week against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Riyadh Seasons -led by Marcelo Gallardo-. For the 35-year-old Argentinian it was the third fight in just nine days.with the addition of the trip to Arab lands, after returning to activity from the final match on 18 December at the Lusail stadium against France.

Messi had completed the duels against Angers (2-0 win, goal scored) and Rennes (0-1 defeat), both in Ligue 1. He had also rested in the previous round of the French Cup, against Chateauroux.

With the Ligue 1 title on the way, Galtier aimed his guns at the last 16 of the Champions League, where he was runners-up in his group – Portugal’s Benfica won it – and the draw determined he would face Bayern Munich: on February 14 in Paris and March 8 in Germany.