Europe's new €1bn trio: Pochettino to debut PSG's deadly MNM attacking trident

Many teams to have won the UEFA Champions League has depended on the partnership of some of their players for outstanding results. While UCL-winning defensive partnerships are not impossible, they are rare. Over time, attacking partnerships have won the title over and over again. Wayne Rooney & Cristiano Ronaldo; Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, & Cristiano Ronaldo (BBC); and Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, & Neymar (MSN) are some of the prominent attacking partnerships to have won the UEFA Champions League title within the past 15 years.

On Wednesday, French Giants,  Paris Saint-Germain will get the chance to showcase their attacking partnership for the first time. Perhaps the most expensively assembled of all, costing almost €1bn in transfer fees and wages, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe (MNM) will take to the pitch together for the first time. Chaperoned by Mauricio Pochettino, the trio of world-class forwards will hope to click into gear immediately and hopefully emulate the attacking partnerships listed earlier by winning the UEFA Champions League. 

Belgian side, Club Brugge, would have the unwelcome privilege of being the first team that plays against this fearsome attack as they welcome Paris Saint-Germain to their home ground for the Matchday 1 fixture of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League group stages. PSG manager, Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that there is a great possibility that all 3 players would start and with Lionel Messi sitting out Sunday's demolition of Clermont in the Ligue 1, no one would bet against PSG obliterating the Club Brugge on Wednesday. 

However, tougher tests will come for the €1bn MNM trio and it is then that their quality will be weighed. With 6-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi forming one part of the trident; Copa America-winning forward, Neymar, being a second part; and World Cup-winning, Kylian Mbappe completing the trio, there is ample evidence that this partnership knows how to win. Crucially, both Messi and Neymar have won the UEFA Champions League multiple times in the past and they can deploy their experience to guide Mbappe to possibly glory.