Lionel Messi has been told that Kylian Mbappe is number one at PSG and that he must “respect” his new teammate.
This is the view of former Arsenal and Chelsea player Nicolas Anelka, who also played for PSG across two spells from 1995 to 1997 & 2000 to 2002.
Messi moved to the French club this summer and joins a star-studded attack alongside Mbappe and Neymar.
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While speaking to Le Parisien, Anelka explained that: “Mbappe has to lead the attack because he’s No 1.
“Messi was at Barcelona, but now he has to serve Mbappe. He’s been at the club for five years and Messi has to respect him.”
Mbappe joined PSG from Monaco in 2017 after a breakthrough campaign for the club and has gone on to score 136 goals in 180 games for the club.
Anelka believes his form for the club across the last four years demands the respect of Messi.
He also commented on Mauricio Pochettino’s use of Messi so far this campaign, after the former Barca forward was subbed off in the 76th minute of a recent game with Lyon.
“A forward needs his coach to show him confidence, and that right there won’t do it,” says Anelka.
“I’m getting ahead of myself but Messi will not forget what Pochettino has done. It will stay with him. He’s the star of the team and it was his first game at the Parc des Princes. It’s going to be very difficult to recover from that as a situation.
“Messi didn’t play against Metz, and for me that’s already a response. You can’t manage Messi like that. The coach wanted to send out a strong message, which is good, but this is Messi.”
