Messi scores first league goal, PSG 10-Man defeats Nantes 3-1

Messi scores first league goal, PSG 10-Man defeats Nantes 3-1, go 13 points clear in Ligue 1.

Lionel Messi scored his first goal in Ligue 1 as 10-man Paris St-Germain moved 13 points clear at the top with a late rally to beat Nantes.  

Lionel Messi curled home left-footed from 20 yards three minutes from time.  

WIth the Kylian Mbappe second-minute opener Goal had given PSG an early lead but the hosts were reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Keylor Navas raced from his box to foul Ludovic Blas. 

 Nantes levelled via Randal Kolo Muani's backheel but Dennis Appiah's freak own goal and Messi's measured shot won it.

 But Appiah's interception of a Messi pass looped over Lafont from 20 yards before the former Barcelona playmaker - whose three previous PSG goals had all come in the Champions League - broke his domestic duck in his sixth Ligue 1 game.

 The result left Nantes in 11th, while PSG held onto first place.

 MAN OF THE MATCH - LIONEL MESSI (PSG)

PSG  3  -  1  Nantes Scores:      Ligue 1, Parc des Princes - Paris Saint-Germain 3 (Mbappé 2'D. Appiah 81'(o.g.)L. Messi 87') FC Nantes 1 (Kolo Muani 76')

 17 - Lionel Messi has become the 17th player from 🇦🇷 to find the net with Paris in Ligue 1, ending a drought of 19 shots without scoring in the top-flight. Albiceleste. #PSGFCNA

 PSG  3  -  1  Nantes:  PLAYER RATINGS 

PSG:     Navas 3, Hakimi 5, Kehrer 5, Diallo 5, Bernat 6, Paredes 6, Gueye 6, Verratti 6, Mbappé 6, Neymar 6, Messi 7. Subs: Rico 6, Wijnaldum 6, Pereira 6. 

Nantes:    Lafont 5, Fabio 7, Castelletto 5, Girotto 5, Corchia 5, Chirivella 5, Moutoussamy 5, Blas 6. Kolo Muani 7, Coulibaly 6, Coco 6. Subs: Merlin 6, Appiah 5, Bukhari 6, Cyprien 6, Geubbels 6.

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BBC Sport and Eurosport.com