He continued the tradition: The record that Messi repeated in his debut

Lionel Messi made his debut for Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday in the Ligue 1 match against Reims. The former Barcelona forward was named in the squad to travel to the Stade Auguste Delaune for Matchweek 4 of the French top-flight competition. This is the first match Messi would play in since his free transfer to PSG. 

On Sunday, PSG coach, Mauricio Pochettino chose to keep Lionel Messi on the bench while he awaits his bow. Instead, the Argentine chose to go with a front three of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Angel di Maria. Messi would come on to replace di Maria in the 66th minute of the match.  

This means that Lionel Messi continued his tradition of coming off the bench in his debut matches. In 2004 during his official debut for Barcelona against Espanyol,  Lionel Messi also came on from the bench to replace Deco in that match. Barcelona went on to win the match on October 14, 2004, by a slim 1-0 win. 

Lionel Messi is now expected to start a full game for PSG after the international break. PSG's next game is against Clermont at the Parc des Princes. This will afford Messi the opportunity to play in front of home fans for the first start of his career in Paris. Before then, he would travel with the Argentine national team to honour the August International break and the upcoming friendlies.