Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 Manchester City: 5 hits and flops as Lionel Messi stunner seals revenge victory | UEFA Champions League 2021-22

Flop: Neymar (PSG)

Neymar was far from his best tonight

Neymar is such an enigma. One day he's toying with our imagination with stellar displays and banging in top-notch goals, but looking absolutely uninterested in the next.

Against City, the Brazilian was more of the latter.

He sure drew a few manic reactions from the crowd with some tricks and flicks, but the end-product was severely lacking from his game. In fact, Neymar failed to muster a single shot on target.

All three of his attempts were woefully off the mark, including a brilliant chance he spurned in the first-half after racing in behind the City defense and then firing into the side-netting following poor ball-control.

There was a tense moment midway through the second-half when he appeared to pick up a knock after coming in contact with Rodri. But he recovered soon after to continue, only to offer no great shakes.

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Flop: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

Sterling didn't have much impact as City's main striker

Pep Guardiola took another gamble tonight by starting Raheem Sterling in an unfamiliar centre-forward role. But it backfired spectacularly as he failed to make any meaningful impact.

He missed a glorious chance early on in the match by directing his header on the post from close range. The ball then came off Donnarumma for Silva, only for the Portuguese to shoot it against the crossbar from just two yards out.

Sterling never found an opening like that again. Presnel Kimpembe did a fine job of marking the 26-year-old closely and severely negating his influence in the attack.

In 78 minutes of action, he only made 17 passes, completing 14, and making only two attempts at goal, neither of which were on target.

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Hit: Lionel Messi (PSG)

Messi is off the mark for PSG in style

If it wasn't for the goal, Messi wouldn't have made the cut here as he was silent for much of the game. But his strike, a first in PSG colors, was so good that it was enough for us to rate him as a 'hit'.

Collecting the ball on the right near the halfway line, the Argentine ace darted forward into space before laying off for Mbappe. The Frenchman then squared it back for Messi to unleash a fiery strike into the top bin.

There was so much power in the strike that Ederson was simply left stranded on his spot, watching helplessly as the ball thundered into the top right corner.

The world had been waiting for this moment for quite some time and Messi made sure it was totally worth it.