With 11 goals and 14 assists in the season that ended in France, Lionel Andrés Messi finished his first year at Paris Saint-Germain. Without a doubt, a lot is asked of these star players, and defenders will always come in to mitigate criticism.
When talking about Lionel Messi in the Parisian club environment, they comment that he came to owe a lot, and that his performance does not support the best player in the world. And it is true that it has not been the best season, but better ones will come soon when, according to Neymar Jr, Messi wins more minutes in France so that his teammates understand his way of playing, and when his adaptation ceases to be a problem, well It is not easy to change scenery after a lifetime at FC Barcelona.
Ad-portas to face the Italy National Team, Lionel Messi is in concentration with the albiceleste in search of a new title with his national team after what was the 2021 Copa América. In conversation with TyC Sports, he spoke about his season in Paris and about achieving a rival known as Real Madrid.
He maintained that the Spanish team was not the best team in the Champions League, ‘the best team does not always win. Real Madrid, without taking away their merit, much less because they are the champions of the Champions League and are always there, were not the best team in this Champions League and, nevertheless, they beat them all’.
When they talk about PSG, at once they link it to the Uefa Champions League because of that leadership ambition they have to achieve it. It got away from them in 2020, and every year they put together teams to fight for the achievement. However, Real Madrid itself cut short that possibility, ‘the Real Madrid thing killed us. To me, to the entire dressing room in general, to all of Paris, because we had a barbaric illusion in that competition, and more how the game went, the result was a blow’.
He spoke about that mystique that Real Madrid has of solving matches, ‘I know what Real Madrid is, I’ve lived it for many years, all my life, up close. And I knew that this could happen, because out of nowhere they score a goal for you and automatically change the game. I also knew that on that field the first 15, 20 minutes are upon you. And if you pass that, then change the game. But if a strange play or a goal happens, it changes again and I knew it could happen and it happened to us and to all the teams that you mention and it’s not the first time it’s happened’.
Finally, he maintained that he wants to win the Champions League, something he hasn’t achieved since 2015 with FC Barcelona, ’I want to win it again and it made me angry that I couldn’t be there. It also makes me see that the best team does not always win the Champions League, that the Champions League are situations, they are punctual moments, they are psychological moments that grab a team, where the slightest mistake leaves you out and the one who is most prepared for these situations ends winning it or reaching the final’.
