Paris St Germain

Messi to make January return to Paris St Germain

The Argentine forward, seven-times Ballon D'Or winner, scored two goals to lead his country to victory over France on penalties in the World Cup final nine days ago.

Reuters reports the 35-year-old Messi will miss PSG's home league game against Strasbourg on Wednesday and the trip to Lens on Sunday.

"He (Messi) had to return to Argentina for the celebrations, the receptions and we decided that he was going to be off until the 1st of January," Galtier told reporters.

Messi plays his first game for PSG

Mbappe gave PSG a taste of what they would be missing if he left for Real Madrid, who have made bids to recruit the France striker since Messi joined on a two-year deal from Barcelona.

PSG are top of the standings with a maximum 12 points.

All 20,545 tickets available were sold at the Auguste Delaune stadium to see 34-year-old Messi play and the fans, who chanted the Argentina forward's name, were rewarded in the 66th minute when he replaced the disappointing Neymar.