‘Of course Lionel Messi, Neymar & Kylian Mbappe can play together’ – Michel Platini feels PSG’s superstar attacking trio have been unlucky in Champions League

• Star-studded cast at Parc des Princes
• European glory is proving elusive
• Potential still there for future success

WHAT HAPPENED? Questions have been asked of whether a star-studded cast at Parc des Princes have the ability to work together as a team in pursuit of collective goals, rather than shining as individuals, with more European heartache suffered in 2022-23 at the hands of Bayern Munich. Former France international Platini, who has also spent time as president of UEFA, says “that’s football” when it comes to Paris Saint-Germain’s failings in European competition – with there no fingers of blame to be pointed at a fearsome attacking trio.

WHAT THEY SAID: Platini, who won the European Cup with Juventus in 1985, has told RMC Sport: “Of course Messi, Neymar and Mbappe can play together. I would prefer there to be one in Paris, one in Marseille and the other in Lyon. Like it was with Ronaldo-Messi and it's a fight, but they are all in the same club. They are exceptional, they play well. It's wonderful to see Paris Saint-Germain play. After you play a European Cup match, you play against Real, which is a very, very big player in Europe and it goes badly, you play Bayern, which is a very, very big player in Europe and it goes badly - that's how it is, that's football. Even in Barcelona, Neymar and Messi have not won the European Cup every year.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Messi, who helped Argentina to World Cup glory at Qatar 2022, has not always produced his dazzling best for PSG, but Platini still considers him to be one of the most exciting players to watch each and every time he takes to the field. The French icon added on the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner: “When he has the ball he is very, very good. What he does with a ball, there are not many that can match him. There may be a little with Neymar, and that's it. We are lucky to have three great players in the French championship, which is good. Afterwards, it's true that there is great disillusionment with the successive defeats in the European Cup for Paris Saint-Germain, but the European Cup is random, it's difficult.”

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT? PSG are currently without Neymar, as he nurses another untimely injury, but Messi and Mbappe will be on show for the Ligue 1 title holders against Rennes on Sunday before domestic action shuts down for the latest international break.