PARIS -- In the grand scheme of things, 263 minutes is the blink of an eye, but not for Lionel Messi. His explosion of relief and joy as he ended his nearly four-hour wait for his first goal in a Paris Saint-Germain shirt -- a stunner in a 2-0 Champions League win against Manchester City -- suggested that every minute of his "drought" felt like a lifetime.
Even the biggest superstars feel the heat and weight of expectancy and Messi, whose early weeks at PSG following his arrival last month as a free agent from Barcelona had seen him struggle to make an impact for Mauricio Pochettino's team, was already into his third-longest goalless start to a season.