Lens (AFP)

The season long marred by the injuries of Mauro Icardi may have really started against Marseille, where the Argentinian offered the Champions Trophy to Paris Saint-Germain with a goal and a penalty caused (2-1), Wednesday in Lens .

The rage of the striker.

In two stages, Icardi deceived Steve Mandanda (39), and evacuated long months of frustrations.

On a wonderful cross from his compatriot Angel Di Maria, Icardi devoured Alvaro Gonzalez and Hiroki Sakai like an "asado" to place a powerful header.

The Marseille goalkeeper managed to deflect the ball onto his post, but the scorer's instinct did not suffer from injuries and the N.9 was faster to take it back and score.

He also preceded Yohann Pelé, who replaced Mandanda, apparently hit in a thigh, at the break, to get a penalty, transformed by Neymar (85).

Icardi had already taken a first step towards recovery by scoring against Brest (3-0), Saturday in Ligue 1, a quarter of an hour after coming into play, a return long postponed.

The well-groomed striker has indeed spent more time at the clinic than on the lawn.

Hit in the knee in October, he played again for a few minutes against Bordeaux on November 28 before relapsing, injured in the adductors.

For example, he has not yet played a minute in the Champions League.

At the start of the season, he had time to score a double in Reims (2-0), at the end of September, before taking the path to the infirmary.

And during that time, the Italian Moise Kean, recruited at the end of the transfer window, settled in the lead: 11 goals in 21 matches.

- Competition with Kean -

Now that the injury curse seems to have faded, Icardi will be able to resume competition on an equal footing, each with their own gladiatorial specialty: physical power for the Italian, the sense of finisher for the Argentinian.

Two options for Mauricio Pochettino.

"The competition is very important, and even more in a big club like Paris", underlines the new coach of PSG, arrived at the beginning of the year.

"Benefiting from this competition and from players like Moise Kean and Mauro Icardi helps to improve their respective performances, it is always welcome", insists the coach.

"Very happy with Moise", Pochettino chose Icardi at Lens because the Italian had "just been established twice", he explained on Canal Plus before the match.

PSG have "25 to 30 players, but only eleven can start the game each time and there are five changes. What I expect is that all the players put me in trouble when it comes time to make my eleven starting point, "Pochettino explains.

Icardi's formidable efficiency will compound the difficulty.

In the first period, Icardi touched 14 balls for four shots, including two on target.

And in these statistics, it takes two shots on target in one second on goal, and a strike from the left on the bar (45 + 2) on a pass from Mbappé, who had already offered him the goal for his return, against Brest .

Against OM, Icardi even thought he had scored earlier, again on a pass from Mbappé, but the two players were offside (22).

Mission fulfilled, he was able to leave his place for the last minutes to Kean (88).

The ball between the two has just started ... like Icardi's season.

© 2021 AFP