Champions League: Christophe Galtier Reveals Why He Substituted Lionel Messi In PSG's 1-1 Draw

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) boss Christophe Galtier has revealed why he substituted Lionel Messi in his side's 1-1 draw with Benfica on Wednesday.

Messi opened the scoring in the Champions League match at Estádio da Luz with his 22nd minute-strike before an own goal saw the hosts equalize. The scoreline remained the same till the end and both sides earned a point each.

Galtier replaced Messi with Pablo Sarabia in the 81st minute. In a post-match media conference, the PSG manager spoke about his decision to substitute Messi, considering the Argentine forward was the only scorer for PSG on Wednesday.

"He signaled that he wanted to come off. On the final sprint, he felt tired. He came off as he was tired and a fresher teammate was a much better option at that moment," Galtier said, reported ESPN.

PSG's goal was the result of a combined effort from Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. Neymar and Mbappe's mutual effort teed up Messi, who curled home a brilliant finish. PSG's front three have been in excellent form since the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign.

Messi has netted eight goals and as many assists in 13 games for PSG. Mbappe has scored 11 goals in 11 games but has not provided an assist, while Neymar has been the best of the lot, having struck 11 goals and nine assists in 13 competitive matches for PSG.

The scoreline could have been much bigger, but goalkeepers Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG) and Odysseas Vlachodimos (Benfica) produced a fine performance.

Donnarumma received praise from his boss after the match.

"We conceded the goal which was a bit unfortunate, even though Benfica created chances in the first half and Gigio was very effective at dealing with the ball over the top. In the second half, we hassled them on the ball more, won more of the ball a lot higher up the pitch, which gave us the feeling of dominating a lot more," Galtier was quoted by PSG's website.

The PSG manager went on to explain that his side lacked a little mobility and depth when they won the ball in the first half, which they recovered in the second.

"We definitely dominated that half, but without managing to score the second goal. We create lots of chances, but we don't score as many as we create in the end. There were lots of risks taken, we really pushed forward a lot. It's down to us to be vigilant when we lose the ball. We will now prepare well for the match on Saturday, recover well, analyse everything properly for the match on Tuesday, which will of course become very important," added Galtier.