Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi wowed the crowd at the Saitama Stadium 2002 as he helped Paris Saint-Germain to their second win of their Japan tour, the Ligue 1 champions easily beating hosts Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 on Saturday.
Pablo Sarabia gave PSG the lead after a dominant 15 minutes, with manager Christophe Galtier once again deploying his big guns against the Reds. On contrast, Urawa were without their star striker Kasper Junker, who was out with a groin injury.
A relentless PSG then went 2-0 up in the 35th minute, this time Kylian Mbappe managing to beat Shusaku Nishikawa in the Urawa goal.
With the Parisians completely dominating and outplaying them in the first half, Urawa head coach Ricardo Rodriguez rang in the changes, bringing in the likes of Kai Shibato, Ayumi Niekawa, Ataru Esaka, and Bryan Linssen.
The changes worked somewhat as Urawa were able to soak up the pressure thrown at them by PSG, however it did not stop the men in red from conceding a third goal, this time courtesy of substitute Arnaud Kalimuendo in the 75th minute.
Before Arnaud’s goal, Urawa were also given a taste of PSG’s world class brand of football, as Messi managed to used his awesome skills to outsmart Urawa defender Kazuaki Mawatari, who was left eating his dust. The skill move was understandably welcomed with a round of applause from everyone in attendance.
No further goals were scored as PSG ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, their second win out of their two matches in their Japanese tour.
PSG will conclude their tour of the Land of the Rising Sun on Monday night, with a match against Gamba Osaka at the Panasonic Stadium Suita.