Julien Laurens recaps Lionel Messi’s PSG debut, after he made his bench debut vs. Reims. (0:49).
Laurens can't hide his excitement after Messi's PSG debut (0:49)
Lionel Messi's debut match with Paris Saint-Germain attracted over 2,000,000 viewers in Spain. This made it the most-watched French football match in Spain.
After his free transfer from Barcelona this summer, Messi, now 34, made his debut for PSG in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Reims.
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Neymar was replaced by the Argentina international in the final 30 minutes. Real Madrid's target Kylian Mbappe scored both goals on behalf of PSG.
Messi's debut broadcast was on Telecinco, a Spanish free-to-air channel. Monday's figures revealed that the match attracted an average audience of 2.25 million viewers. This made it the most watched programme in Spain on Sunday.
Lionel Messi had a great debut at PSG when they won 2-0 at Reims. Photo by John Berry/Getty Images
Over 6.7 million viewers tuned in to see PSG's victory at one point in the 90-minute period.
Barcelona's win over Getafe, LaLiga, was viewed by an average of 591,000 people.
The PSG game was also broadcast live on Twitch by Ibai Llanos (a Spanish streamer and esports commentator).
Llanos' broadcast attracted an average audience of more than 300,000 and a peak audience of 500,000. The stream attracted over 2 million viewers.
Gerard Pique, defender at Barca, bought the rights to the French league after Messi's August move to Paris.
ESPN reported last week that Kosmos, Pique's company was planning to sublicense the rights. Telecinco, Llanos, and Messi will only have access to Messi’s debut.
In recent months, Pique developed a close friendship with Llanos and was a guest on Sunday's pregame show. He streamed the Copa America final between Argentina & Brazil via Kosmos on Llanos' Twitch channel.
