Reims v Paris Saint-Germain: Ligue 1 – live!

PSG’s goalkeeping situation is an odd one. New boy Gianluigi Donnarumma said this week that “I came to PSG to play” – as indeed you would if you were one of the world’s most highly rated keepers. But Keylor Navas is not mug, and indeed has been key to PSG’s transformation from a silly team into a serious one.

You can’t help feeling for Navas: he has been brilliant wherever he’s played. He was effectively replaced at Real Madrid for the crime of not being famous enough (Thibaut Courtois was signed the summer after Navas was named Uefa’s goalkeeper of the year), and it looks like the same is set to happen here.

So we’ll have to hold on a bit for the long-awaited sight of Messi in a not-Barcelona shirt. In the meantime, though, that’s still a hell of a team and one that looks a lot more sensible and balanced with the addition of Wijnaldum. He may not have quite the same passing range as Leandro Paredes but he plays the ball sooner and quicker, and has a blend of athleticism and diligence that is very handy when his side don’t have the ball. You imagine that Mbappe and Neymar will be pleased to count him as a teammate.

… and the lad Messi is on the bench. Boooo. Poch the party pooper has named the following side:

Navas; Diallo, Hakimi, Kehrer, Marquinos; Gueye, Verratti, Wijnaldum; Di Maria, Mbappe, Neymar. Subs: Danilo, Dina, Donnarumma, Draxler, Herrera, Kalimuendo, Kimpembe, Parades, Him.

Reims: Rajkovic; Abdelhamid, Cassama, Faes, Foket, Gravillon, Kebbal, Lopy, Mbuku, Munetsi, Toure. Subs: Berisha, Cafaro, Diouf, Doucoure, Ekitke, Flips, Ghislain, Locko, Van Bergen.

Have you heard? PSG have stepped upped their recruitment of late. But despite putting together perhaps the most star-studded list of summer arrivals in football history, the makeup of the PSG side has thus far barely changed. Georginio Wijnaldum started last week and Achraf Hakimi has impressed at right-back, but Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma and – yes – Leo Messi are yet to play a minute for

the Harlem Globetrotters
PSG. Not that that’s hampered their new side: PSG have won their first three games of the season at a breeze, scoring 10 in the process. No Messi, no problem. At least half of that equation may change today, with the great man set for his debut.

Reims – modestly resourced and lacking any big names – should on paper be straightforward opponents, but the teams they’ve played so far have not found them to be. Reims have played out three draws so far, ranging from a helter-skelter 3-3 to a mind-numbing 0-0.

A repeat of the latter appears unlikely today (though Reims would surely take it) not least because of the presence up front of the best player in the world. No, not him – Kylian Mbappe, the absurdly talented Frenchman who, in service the Great Superclub Pantomime, may be playing his last game for the club before doing one to Madrid.

For now, though, the holy trinity of him, Neymar and Messi have been named in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad for tonight’s game. This may be our only chance to see them play together up front. Over to you, Poch.