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Watch: Messi scores 700th club goal as assist to Mbappe becomes talking point in PSG win

The Argentine great joins Portugal superstar and longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who became the first footballer to enter the exclusive 700 club last October

Published: Mon 27 Feb 2023, 2:10 PM

Updated: Mon 27 Feb 2023, 3:32 PM

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Photo: AP

Photo: AP

Kylian Mbappe found the back of the net twice and Lionel Messi scored once as French league leader Paris Saint-Germain notched up a comfortable 3-0 victory against title contenders Marseille on Sunday.

Messi’s 29th minute goal was also the 700th in his club career — a landmark total in Europe's top-five leagues. The Argentine great joins Portugal superstar and longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who became the first footballer to enter the exclusive 700 club last October.


In the 29th minute, Mbappé found space down the left and picked out the 35-year-old Messi — who saved PSG with an injury-time free kick in a 4-3 win against Lille last weekend — for a close-range finish, silencing the crowd at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, according to news agency AP.

And just four minutes before scoring his 28th goal for PSG, Messi played an exquisite pass near the halfway line, with a clinical Mbappe drawing the first blood. In the second half, Messi set up Mbappé again with a looping pass in the 55th, in a goal that has become a talking point on social media.

Mbappé tops the league’s scoring charts outright with 17 goals, and he matched Edinson Cavani’s PSG club-record tally of 200 in the process, AP reported.

Another PSG star, Neymar, missed the match due to an injury. But PSG left the pitch on a high, thanks to an impressive showing by Mbappé, who became only the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when France lost on penalty kicks to Argentina last December, and Messi, who hit the target twice in that thrilling encounter.

A win would have moved second-place Marseille within two points of defending champion PSG. Instead, Marseille trails by eight points with only 13 rounds remaining.

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