Messi & Neymar shine in the season opener

The new Ligue 1 campaign has finally started and Messi & Neymar shine in the season opener for PSG. I don’t think I enjoyed as many minutes of PSG football the entire last season as I did during the first half of this match against Clermont Foot on the road.
Clermont is not the favourite to compete on top half of the table this season so there is no need to get carried away, but at the same time, you can only play the team that you have in front of you on the night.
A very positive match with the best possible starting line up considering that Mbappé was unavailable with a little bit of muscle discomfort. Donnarumma was in goal, Marquinhos, Ramos, Kimpembe as back three, Hakimi and Mendes as wing backs, Verratti had his 380th match for PSG - now equal with Sylvain Armand and second most matches played only behind Jean Marc Pilorget who is 55 matches ahead. That is very doable fer Verratti and with him Vitinha on the midfield with his very first ever Ligue1 match.
In the absence of Mbappé, Sarabia accompanied Messi and  Neymar in attack.
PSG scored 5 goals and kept a clean sheet. The players are starting to find each other on the pitch and Messi & Neymar were shining in this season opener. Neymar got one goal and three assists and Messi scored twice while delivering one assist, but of course you need eleven players at the time on the pitch. The whole team functioned well. It was also immediately clear that as wingbacks, Hakimi and Mendes are much more at home than as full backs as they were last season. They were good, but now they are more central to the whole system.
Great match all in all and it was great to see these stars looking happy. This is a good place to start the new season.
In this episode we also talk about Fabián Ruiz - a Spanish midfielder from Napoli who is rumoured to be close to PSG. Who is he and how would he fit in. Navas could also be heading the opposite direction to Naples, but that is reportedly a separate negotiation. 
Hopefully you enjoy the episode. Feel free to like, subscribe, rate and whatever else there is to do, if you so feel inclined and find us on Twitter and Instagram as @PSGhelsinki