MNM Trio Will Need to Accept Sitting on the Bench, Says PSG Coach

Football - Ligue 1 - Nantes v Paris St Germain - The Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau, Nantes, France - September 3, 2022 Paris St Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)
Football - Ligue 1 - Nantes v Paris St Germain - The Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau, Nantes, France - September 3, 2022 Paris St Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)
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MNM Trio Will Need to Accept Sitting on the Bench, Says PSG Coach

Football - Ligue 1 - Nantes v Paris St Germain - The Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau, Nantes, France - September 3, 2022 Paris St Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)
Football - Ligue 1 - Nantes v Paris St Germain - The Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau, Nantes, France - September 3, 2022 Paris St Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)

Paris St Germain will need all their resources if they are to shine on all fronts this season, and it means that their formidable "MNM" attacking trio will need to take a break at times, whether they like it or not.

While Mauricio Pochettino would rarely replace Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe or Neymar, his successor Christophe Galtier has not hesitated to put the Brazilian on the bench on Saturday, three days before their Champions League opener against Juventus.

Neymar came on around the hour mark but it was Mbappe who made way for his fellow forward in their 3-0 win at Nantes and the France player did not show any sign of frustration.

Messi is the one who played the most among the three, although he was also recalled to the bench in the closing stages against Monaco and Toulouse.

Galtier, who took over this season, had warned that the team would come first, and he has been true to his word as PSG scored a record 24 goals in their opening six league matches.

"I talked about it twice - once with each of them and once with the whole squad, to tell them that this is how it was going to be and that we had to have the right attitude and accept it," said Galtier.

With a packed schedule with the World Cup looming in the European autumn, Galtier said there was little choice.

"You say it's new, but it's an obligation for everyone because of the very busy schedule," he explained.

"We play a lot, every three days, then every four days, then there is the World Cup. Everyone has to understand that they won't be able to play all the games."

Center back Sergio Ramos was also given a relative rest against Nantes, only coming on in the 62nd minute.

"Everyone has to be ready to play. The most important thing is the team. We have quality in both the starters and the substitutes," said center back Presnel Kimpembe.

"We have a good group. Everyone knows that. We take advantage of each other to be as good as possible."



Liverpool Shines in Champions League, Dumping Real Madrid Down the Table

Liverpool manager Arne Slot gives the thumb up after the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 27 November 2024. Liverpool won 2-0.  EPA/PETER POWELL
Liverpool manager Arne Slot gives the thumb up after the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 27 November 2024. Liverpool won 2-0. EPA/PETER POWELL
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Liverpool Shines in Champions League, Dumping Real Madrid Down the Table

Liverpool manager Arne Slot gives the thumb up after the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 27 November 2024. Liverpool won 2-0.  EPA/PETER POWELL
Liverpool manager Arne Slot gives the thumb up after the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 27 November 2024. Liverpool won 2-0. EPA/PETER POWELL

Liverpool is 100% on top of the Champions League after dumping title holder Real Madrid into an almost unbelievable 24th place in the 36-team standings on Wednesday.
No one felt the embarrassment of Madrid’s 2-0 loss at Anfield more than Kylian Mbappé, the superstar added in the offseason by the storied club that also was European champion against Liverpool in the finals of 2022 and 2018.
Mbappé had a penalty saved in the second half and was earlier dumped on his behind by Conor Bradley’s superb tackle in an instant viral moment, The Associated Press reported.
Only Liverpool has started the new Champions League format with five wins and first-year coach Arne Slot's team is two points clear of Inter Milan. Barcelona is third, trailing Liverpool by three points.
Madrid is, remarkably, with three rounds left just one place above being eliminated. The top eight teams at the end of January go direct to the round of 16 in March, and teams placed from ninth to 24th enter a round of two-leg playoffs in February.
“(This) doesn’t change much, because even with a win it was going to be tough to secure a top-eight finish,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. ”It was a fair result."
Monaco missed a chance to go second in the table, giving up a lead playing with 10 men from the 58th minute in a 3-2 loss at home to Benfica. Swiss forward Zeki Amdouni scored the winning goal in the 88th.
Borussia Dortmund, the beaten finalist against Madrid in May, is up to fourth place after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0. Champions League standout Jamie Gittens now has four goals in five games, curling a rising shot in the 41st to open the scoring in Croatia.
The best comeback was at PSV Eindhoven, where the home team trailed Shakhtar Donetsk by two goals in the 87th minute before a 3-2 win was sealed by United States forward Ricardo Pepi’s goal deep in stoppage time.
US defender Cameron Carter-Vickers scored an embarrassing own goal for Celtic — playing a no-look pass far beyond goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel — in a 1-1 draw with Club Brugge.
“One of those things,” Schmeichel said. “Cam gets pressed and he hasn’t heard me shout that I’m not in (goal).”
Congo teammates Ngal’Ayel Mukau and Silas impressed in wins for Lille and Red Star Belgrade.
Mukau scored twice in 12th-place Lille’s 2-1 win at Bologna and Silas leveled for Red Star in a 5-1 rout of Stuttgart, though he barely celebrated his goal. Silas is on loan with the Serbian champion from Stuttgart.
Aston Villa's 0-0 draw with Juventus was preserved by an excellent save by Emiliano Martinez, the World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper, diving low to push away a header from Francisco Conceição.
Bradley beats Mbappé Liverpool’s stand-in right back Bradley was a standout Wednesday, denying Mbappé at high speed in a signature defensive play in the 32nd.
The 21-year-old Northern Ireland defender, deputizing for fit-again Trent Alexander-Arnold, joined the attack in the 52nd to play a key pass returning the ball to Alexis Mac Allister who scored the opening goal.
After Mbappé’s penalty was pushed away by goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher in the 61st, Liverpool star Mo Salah missed with his spot-kick in the 70th, before substitute Cody Gakpo sealed the win with a header in the 77th.
Madrid now has lost three of five games after defeats at Lille and at home to AC Milan. The record 15-time European champion has another tough trip next, at fifth-place Atalanta on Dec. 10. On the same date, Liverpool is at 30th-place Girona and looks to be cruising into the round of 16.
“You know how special it is to play against a team that has won the Champions League so many times," Liverpool coach Slot said of Madrid. “They were a pain for Liverpool for many years too.”
First wins, first points Red Star Belgrade and Sturm Graz ended four-game losing runs to get their first points and wins.
Red Star rallied against Stuttgart after the German team led in the fifth minute. The 1991 European Cup winner’s goal to level the game in the 12th was scored by on-loan Silas. He held up his hands as if in apology as part of a low-key celebration.
Sturm Graz won 1-0 against Girona, the Spanish newcomer to European competitions. It was the Austrian champion’s first Champions League game since coach Christian Ilzer left to join Hoffenheim.