Lionel Messi: PSG star looked back near his best in 6-2 win vs Gamba Osaka

Paris Saint-Germain signed off their pre-season tour of Japan with a 6-2 thrashing of Gamba Osaka.

The team currently sitting 16th in the J1 League table simply couldn’t handle the star-studded visitors.

Goals from Pablo Sarabia, Neymar, Nuno Mendes and Lionel Messi gave Christophe Galtier’s side a 4-1 advantage by the half-time interval.

Neymar got on the scoresheet for a second time after the break, before Kylian Mbappe completed the scoring from the penalty spot late on.

It was a fairly easy night’s work for PSG truth be told, with Gamba Osaka putting up little resistance throughout proceedings.

But to borrow an overused cliche, you can only play who is in front of you.

And the fact of the matter is PSG flexed their talented muscles and were brilliant for the most part, particularly Messi.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner endured a tough time in 2021/22 with various injuries and a bout of Covid-19, although he did still managed to bag 11 goals and 15 assists across all competitions.

But in 2022/23, we may finally see the very best version of Messi once again.

He’s fully adapted to life in Paris now and will have a full pre-season campaign behind him this time around.

Of course, we can’t say for sure that we’ll bare witness to Messi at the peak of his powers in a PSG shirt, but after watching his individual highlights against Gamba Osaka, it looks more than likely to us.

That’s something close to the Messi we all know and love.

His goal came courtesy of a lovely first-time finish from inside the box, while the assist he provided for Neymar’s second goal was a beautifully-weighted through ball.

Messi still needs to do some work on his finishing, as it’s not quite what it was, but the signs overall look pretty good as