As football in England took a pause to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, European football continued on and in the first half of September, we were treated to some superb performances. The second half of the month saw an international break put a pause on things, however it allowed us to take a moment to properly digest what we had seen.

Our standout performer in September was a man who seems destined for glory this winter with the World Cup on the horizon, Lionel Messi, who needs just this final piece to his career to truly be considered the very best of all-time. His club form is certainly showing the right signs for the Argentine as he played in 5 games (7 with international friendlies), netted 2 (6 including international) and assisted with 4. As he featured in Ligue 1, the start of the Champions League and also a few international friendlies, the 35 year old isn’t showing any signs of slowing down as he awaits his date with destiny in Qatar.

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Match By Match

September 3rd : Nantes 0-3 PSG – Getting the month started, Messi put in his first (of 5) player of the match performances, as he set up both of Mbappe’s goals to give PSG a comfortable 2 goal lead before Mendes finished things up later in the game. Not only setting up 2 goals, but created the most chances (4), completed the most dribbles (10) and won the most duels (10) to earn him a 9.2/10 FotMob rating, and getting PSG’s winning month underway.

September 6th: PSG 2-1 Juventus – The Champions League is clearly the main focus for PSG this year, and they go their campaign up and running in the best way as they edged past a fairly tough challenge in Juventus. Although the Italian side aren’t anywhere near their previous best, they still posed a threat, however after Mbappe’s early brace put the French side 2 up, it was always going to be an impossible task for their Italian visitors. Messi was quiet in this one, only managing a 7.6/10 FotMob rating and making the only appearance where he failed to make a goal contribution. It was Mbappe’s night, but as a team effort, PSG look pretty dangerous for this years’ tournament.

September 10th: PSG 1-0 Brest – The goal involvement drought didn’t last too long for Messi as he set up Neymar in the 30th minute to give PSG another Ligue 1 win. Although a fairly quiet game by his own standards (8.5/10 FotMob rating), Messi still created the most chances (4) and also hit the woodwork as PSG continued their impressive start to the season despite Brest putting up a decent challenge for the reigning champions.

September 14th: Maccabi Haifa 1-3 PSG – After their impressive start to the Champions League with a win over Juventus, PSG fell behind in the 24th minute to their Israeli opponents, until Messi levelled things up in the 37th minute. He then went on to set up their next as Mbappe put the French visitors in front, before Neymar later sealed all 3 points with their 3rd. Messi had been hugely influential by getting PSG level and then setting up their 2nd, while his all-round game was massively important also. Earning a 9.0/10 FotMob rating, he has proved crucial on the European stage yet again as PSG make it 2 wins from 2 and look comfortable for qualification to the knockout rounds this season.

September 18th: Lyon 0-1 PSG – Just before the international break, PSG faced a tough challenge away at Lyon where they just managed to scrape through with the win and secure a winning month, thanks primarily to the Argentine forward. Messi netted the games only goal in the 5th minute as he helped PSG to maintain their impressive run despite the challenge Lyon posed. Messi was influential throughout, winning his 3rd (of 5) player of the match awards. His 1 goal, 5 dribbles, 2 chances created, 92% pass accuracy, 100% shot accuracy, 100% long ball accuracy and 5 recoveries, earned Messi a 8.9/10 FotMob rating, bringing his PSG average for the month to 8.64/10.

International Break – To round off the month, and truly signal his intentions for the upcoming World Cup, Messi featured in 2 Argentina friendlies during the international break. The first against Honduras saw Messi play the full 90 minutes and make a player of the match performance as he netted a brace, completed the most dribbles (2) and secured a comfortable 3-0 win. This was almost replicated in just a 34 minute cameo as he scored 2 in 3 minutes to again help his side to a 3-0 win this time over Jamaica. In just over half an hour he again claimed a player of the match performance for his efforts, and with Alvarez netting the other goal, Argentina look to have a dangerous attacking threat for this winter’s tournament.