Messi, Mbappe and Neymar Set to Join Forces for First Time since World Cup

Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe together before PSG's game against Auxerre in Paris in November. FRANCK FIFE / AFP/File
Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe together before PSG's game against Auxerre in Paris in November. FRANCK FIFE / AFP/File
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Messi, Mbappe and Neymar Set to Join Forces for First Time since World Cup

Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe together before PSG's game against Auxerre in Paris in November. FRANCK FIFE / AFP/File
Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe together before PSG's game against Auxerre in Paris in November. FRANCK FIFE / AFP/File

Paris Saint-Germain's trip to Rennes on Sunday is set to be the first time their superstar front three of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar have all played together since the World Cup.

Mbappe returned to training on Thursday having been given 10 days off after coming back from Qatar and playing in PSG's first two games following the tournament, AFP said.

He jetted off to New York for a break and was nowhere to be seen as Messi made his comeback, and scored, in a 2-0 victory for the Ligue 1 leaders against Angers on Wednesday.

The World Cup was a clear motivating factor in the trio's outstanding form during the early months of the campaign, and how they play together will be crucial in determining how the remainder of the season goes for PSG.

They are six points clear of Lens before completing the first half of the season in Rennes, but the Champions League is their main objective.

After failing to come top of their group, Christophe Galtier's side were drawn to play Bayern Munich in the last 16, with the first leg at home set for February 14.

Galtier described the 35-year-old Messi as "relaxed and in great shape physically" after his first match since captaining Argentina to a penalty shoot-out victory over Mbappe's France in an epic World Cup final last month.

The question now is how much motivation the former Barcelona star has after that career-defining triumph.

PSG are keen to extend his contract in the French capital into a third season and Messi's biggest goal now will be to win the Champions League for the first time since 2015.

Fuelled by losing the World Cup final despite scoring a hat-trick, 2018 world champion Mbappe will be desperate to get his hands on the Champions League trophy for the first time.

Neymar, meanwhile, appears a little like the odd man out -- he left the World Cup in tears as Brazil lost on penalties in the quarter-finals, aware his chance of winning that trophy may have gone forever.

He was then sent off in PSG's first game post-Qatar against Strasbourg, completing a miserable end to 2022.

But for PSG it is not just about those three.

They look light in defense, where they appear overly reliant on an ageing Sergio Ramos, and short of muscle in midfield, an area where a fragile Marco Verratti is their key player.

Galtier insists they still need time to get back up to speed.

"We are all just getting used to playing together again and you could see at times that we lacked some of the connections between the players that we had more often before the World Cup," he said after the midweek game.

Player to watch: Ross BarkleyIf the England midfielder was hoping to relaunch his career in France, the move was not working out for the 29-year-old former Everton prodigy as he struggled to make a serious impact in the first three months of the season. Things have improved for him at the start of 2023, however. Barkley scored a brilliant goal against Rennes on January 2 in a 2-1 defeat, and then came off the bench to score twice in Wednesday's 6-1 thrashing of Montpellier.

The latter game was also the first for Nice since coach Lucien Favre was sacked and replaced by Didier Digard. Barkley will hope to make a greater impression under a new manager in the months ahead with the club owned by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

Key stats48 - Goals Mbappe, Neymar and Messi have scored between them for their club this season

10 - Bottom side Angers have lost their last 10 league games. The record for the most consecutive defeats in a single French top-flight season is 12

8 - Rennes have won their last eight home league games.

Fixtures (kick-offs GMT)

Saturday

Lens v Auxerre (1600), Marseille v Lorient (1800), Lyon v Strasbourg (2000)

Sunday

Lille v Troyes (1200), Reims v Nice, Angers v Clermont, Montpellier v Nantes, Toulouse v Brest (all 1400), Monaco v Ajaccio (1605), Rennes v Paris Saint-Germain (1945)



Swiatek Reaches her 1st Wimbledon Semifinal, Will Face Bencic Next

09 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek celebrates victory over Russia's Liudmila Samsonova during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/dpa
09 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek celebrates victory over Russia's Liudmila Samsonova during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/dpa
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Swiatek Reaches her 1st Wimbledon Semifinal, Will Face Bencic Next

09 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek celebrates victory over Russia's Liudmila Samsonova during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/dpa
09 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek celebrates victory over Russia's Liudmila Samsonova during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/dpa

Iga Swiatek reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over 19th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova that went from a stroll to a bit of a struggle in the late stages Wednesday.

"Even though I’m in the middle of the tournament, I already got goosebumps after this win," said Swiatek, who will face unseeded Belinda Bencic on Thursday for a spot in the final. “I’m super happy and super proud of myself.”

Bencic beat No. 7 Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2019 U.S. Open. The other semifinal is No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against No. 13 Amanda Anisimova; they advanced with wins Tuesday.

Swiatek is a five-time major champion, with four of those titles on the red clay of the French Open, and the other on the hard courts of the US Open. She's also twice been a semifinalist at the hard-court Australian Open.

The grass courts of the All England Club always had given her the most trouble as a pro, even though she did claim a junior championship there in 2018. In her five appearances in the Wimbledon women's bracket before this year, she had made it as far as the quarterfinals just once, exiting in that round in 2023.

But the 24-year-old from Poland is enjoying a career-best run on the slick surface, thanks in part to being more comfortable with the footing required.
“I, for sure, feel like I really worked hard to progress here on this surface,” The Associated Press quoted Swiatek as saying. “So this year, I feel like I can just work with it and work with myself. I’ll just keep doing that.”

Before the start of Wimbledon, Swiatek was the runner-up in Bad Homburg, Germany, her first final at a tournament played on grass — and her first final at any event in more than a year, a drought that resulted in her falling from the No. 1 ranking and being seeded No. 8 at the All England Club.

Her rough stretch included a one-month ban last season in a doping case after an investigation determined a failed out-of-competition drug test was caused by an unintentional contamination of non-prescription medication for issues with jet lag and sleeping. On the court, a semifinal loss to Sabalenka at Roland-Garros last month ended Swiatek's 26-match French Open winning streak.

Swiatek led by a set and 3-0 in the second against Samsonova, who was appearing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Soon, though, it was 4-all, then 5-all. But Swiatek held for a 6-5 lead, then broke to end it, and a smile spread across her face.

“I’ll just recover today, try not to celebrate too much, but already focus on the next one,” Swiatek said. “Prepare in the evening, and I’ll be ready tomorrow.”

Bencic, who at 28 is a decade older than Andreeva, is competing in her second major tournament since returning to the tour after giving birth to a daughter, Bella, in April 2024.

“I’m very proud, actually. All my career, I didn’t say it a lot to myself, but after having Bella, I really say it to myself every day,” Bencic said. “We are just enjoying life on tour with Bella, traveling. It’s been beautiful to create these memories together. And obviously, to play great is so amazing, but for me, it’s a bonus. I’m generally just really happy to be able to play again.”