Lionel Messi was booed by PSG fans in his first game back from a club-imposed suspension as the French giants thumped Ajaccio 5-0.
Messi’s future at PSG has been the subject of much speculation over the last week after he was suspended for taking a trip to Saudi Arabia.
Goals by Fabian Ruiz, Achraf Hakimi, a double by Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Youssouf’s own goal took PSG to 81 points with three games left.
At the Parc des Princes, the crowd jeered when Messi’s name was announced in the line-up and the Argentinian was booed when he first touched the ball.
Both teams finished with 10 men after Hakimi and Ajaccio’s Thomas Mangani were sent off late.
Lionel Messi was booed by PSG fans in his first game back from a club-imposed suspension
Kylian Mbappe made the score 3-0 two minutes into the second half with a shot from a cross
Messi returned to training on Monday after being suspended for making an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia and missing a training session as a result.
French media reported that Messi had been suspended for two weeks after making the trip when he was supposed to train with the squad the day after the Ligue 1 leaders’ 3-1 defeat to Lorient last month.
Messi apologised to PSG and his team mates last Friday and was left out of the squad for their 3-1 win at second-bottom Troyes two days later.
He was below par on Saturday as PSG bulldozed past Ajaccio.
Ruiz opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a whipped shot, 10 minutes before Hakimi doubled the tally by poking home the ball from Mbappe’s deflected shot.
At the Parc des Princes, the crowd jeered when Messi’s name was announced in the line-up
Mbappe made it 3-0 two minutes into the second half with a shot from a cross and added another goal in more spectacular fashion with a volley from the edge of the box in the 54th.
Youssouf then deflected a Marquinhos cross into his own goal in the 73rd minute, before Hakimi and Mangani were both shown a straight red card for losing their tempers with brutal challenges.
Christophe Galtier’s side lead second-placed RC Lens, who beat Stade de Reims on Friday 2-1 despite being down to 10 men, by six points. Third-placed Olympique de Marseille, who host bottom side Angers on Sunday, are five points behind Lens.
Ajaccio are 18th on 23 points, 11 points from 16th-placed AJ Auxerre. The last four clubs in the 20-team Ligue 1 will go down at the end of the season.
