Lionel Messi was surprisingly substituted off by Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier on Sunday night as his side chased a winning goal against Monaco in their Ligue 1 clash.
A second-half penalty from Neymar had cancelled out Kevin Volland's early strike for the visitors at the Parc des Princes but with four minutes remaining on the clock, Messi was surprisingly taken out of the game to be replaced by Pablo Sarabia. The Argentine superstar is rarely substituted off, and once refused to be withdrawn from a league clash while at Barcelona.
The substitution came less than a year after Messi was taken off during Paris Saint-Germain's 2-1 win over Lyon by former boss Mauricio Pochettino. It was an incident that forced Pochettino to insist in his post-match press conference that there were no problems between him and Messi over the decision.
Sunday's decision ultimately did not pay off, with PSG unable to find a late winner against Monaco in a result which saw them drop their first points of the campaign as Messi failed to build on his three Ligue 1 goals across his first four appearances.
The coach who knows the Argentine better than anyone else is Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who managed him during his four seasons at the helm of Barcelona. The duo won two Champions League titles together during that relatively short stint together at the Camp Nou and it was under Guardiola that Messi found the best form in the entirety of his career.
Back in 2012, when Guardiola was at the helm of Barca, spoke about the decision of then Argentina boss Alejandro Sabella to substitute Messi for the international side. The decision of Sabella had drawn attention due to the talisman's importance for Argentina and drew the advice from Guardiola, who offered his counterpart some advice on how to handle the player.
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Guardiola said of that situation: "You have to say very little to Leo. You must protect him on the pitch alongside players who make his job easier for him. You have to listen very carefully to what he has to say and remember that he must never be substituted off the pitch. You must not forget that he should not come off, not even at the end of the game to be applauded by the fans."
Sunday’s match broke Messi’s run of playing the full 90 minutes of his previous 22 matches for Paris Saint-Germain – with any substitution of the Argentine being a rare event.
