PARIS: Lionel Messi hit the crossbar with a curling free kick and looked angry at being taken off in the 75th minute in his home debut on Sunday for Paris St Germain.

Substitute Mauro Icardi scored deep into stoppage time as PSG scraped a 2-1 win over Olympique Lyonnais in Ligue 1 to make it six straight victories.

Messi stared sharply at PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino and appeared to snub a handshake as he came off. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who is still chasing his first PSG goal in his third appearance following his shock move from Barcelona, sat glum-faced on the bench.

As he was coming off, Messi made a gesture with his hands apart as if to say he didn’t understand, and Pochettino attempted an explanation afterward.

“Everyone knows we have great players in the squad, we have 35 players. But we must make decisions for the good of the team. Sometimes they lead to a positive result and sometimes not,” Pochettino said through a translator. “These are decisions we need to take. Sometimes it pleases people, or it doesn’t. I asked him how he was, and he said he was fine.”

On the field, Icardi found space to head in Kylian Mbappe’s precise cross from the left in the 93rd.

PSG fell behind in the 53rd when Brazil midfielder Lucas Paqueta finished neatly, after forward Karl Toko Ekambi picked him out with a low cross to the front post.

Neymar equalised from the penalty spot in the 66th after he was fouled by 18-year-old right back Malo Gusto.

Lyon coach Peter Bosz was unhappy with the call.

“It’s not Malo who fouls Neymar, it’s Neymar who puts his hand on him and fouls him,” Bosz said. “I can understand if the referee didn’t see it, but then there is VAR.”

Lyon’s long-serving president, Jean-Michel Aulas, went even further by calling the decision an aberration and saying the referee should have used video review.

Messi almost scored in the 32nd. He found Neymar down the left and sprinted to meet Neymar’s clever reverse pass, but goalkeeper Anthony Lopes read Messi’s low shot well and denied him with his legs.

Four minutes later, Lopes was stuck to the spot as Messi hit the crossbar with a free kick from 25 metres.

Messi, whose last Champions League goal for Barca was away to PSG in last season’s round of 16 return leg, also hit the bar in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Club Brugge.

PSG maintained their perfect record with 18 points and are five points ahead of bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille, having played one game more.

Marseille continued their unbeaten start as Bamba Dieng and Amine Harit netted in a 2-0 win over Stade Rennais at the Velodrome.

Dieng, the 21-year-old forward from Senegal, has now scored three goals in the last two games for Marseille, who are emerging as the most likely team to give PSG a run for their money this season.

Elsewhere, Wissam Ben Yedder’s spot-kick secured Monaco a 2-2 draw in the Cote d’Azur derby at Nice, who saw Amine Gouiri miss a late penalty.

Angers dropped to fourth after losing 4-1 at home to Nantes for their first defeat this season.

Midfield schemer Teji Savanier grabbed an 87th-minute equaliser for Montpellier in a 1-1 draw at Troyes.

Also, it was Clermont 1, Brest 1; and Reims 0, Lorient 0.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2021