‘Kvaradona’ matches Messi for Ligue 1 titles – but whose input was more important for PSG? | OneFootball

At Napoli, he began to be named in the same breath as Diego Maradona. And now, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has followed in Lionel Messi’s footsteps by winning back-to-back Ligue 1 titles with PSG.

It’s an expectation more than a hope in Paris that PSG will win the league. After their win over Lens on Wednesday, they’ve now achieved it for a fifth consecutive season.

The start of that run coincided with Messi’s two-year spell in France. These days, though, their attack is being lit up by different players.

Kvaratskhelia, who joined PSG in January 2025, scored the opener against Lens to set Luis Enrique’s side on their way to the title.

Now, the Georgian winger has won Ligue 1 at the first two times of asking, just like Messi did.

But which player was more important towards their respective double triumphs?

During his two seasons with PSG, Messi made 58 Ligue 1 appearances and scored 22 goals. In addition, he provided 31 assists.

In comparison, Kvaratskhelia’s 18 months with PSG so far have included 41 appearances, 12 goals and seven assists.

Messi’s average goals-per-game ratio in Ligue 1 was 0.38, whereas Kvaratskhelia’s so far is 0.29.

Across his two Ligue 1 title triumphs, Messi scored 12.29% of PSG’s league goals.

Kvaratskhelia has scored 10.08% of PSG’s league goals since he joined.

As for the decisiveness of those goals, Messi gave PSG the lead in nine games (seven times with the opening goal) whereas Kvaratskhelia has given them the lead six times (three times with the opener).

There is one equalising goal to each player’s name, but while Messi scored three winning goals, Kvaratskhelia is yet to do so.

In total, PSG won 40 games across their two seasons winning the league with Messi (in which he featured). In one-and-a-half so far with Kvaratskhelia, they’ve won 31 he’s played in.

Overall, the metrics are better for Messi. However, Kvaratskhelia had half a season fewer to record his stats.

The general consensus is that PSG’s era with Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar didn’t contain as well balanced a squad as the one they went on to win the Champions League with last season.

And so Kvaratskhelia and company could go on to gain an even better perception than their star-studded predecessors, especially if they make it two Champions Leagues in a row.

The cases above perhaps go to show that what might be ordinary for Messi can be an achievement for other players.

But having already conquered Naples and earned a Maradona-like admiration there, Kvaratskhelia is in with a shout of rivalling Messi’s Parisian reputation.