Lionel Messi has opened up on his time at Paris Saint-Germain having left the French Ligue 1 club to start afresh at Inter Miami of Major League Soccer. Messi says he did find the change a bit ‘difficult’ after arriving in Paris in 2021 amidst much fanfare.
Messi exited his boyhood club FC Barcelona two years back in a shocking turn of events to join PSG. There were hopes the Argentine maestro will end the club’s longstanding dream of winning Champions League trophy but it wasn’t meant to be.
Messi scored 32 goals and recorded 35 assists for PSG during his two seasons with them and he opted against renewing his contract to leave for MLS earlier this month.
Messi, who turns 36 today, says the adaptation proved difficult for his family as well.
“My stay in Paris started with a very difficult adaptation, much more than I expected, even though I had people I knew in the dressing room,” Messi told BeIN Sports. “It was difficult to adapt, the change, arriving late, not having a pre-season, adapting to the new club, the new way of playing, new teammates, the city…It wasn’t easy for me or for my family.”
Towards his final days as PSG player, the fans began booing him and a month before he was to exit, the 2022 world cup winner was suspended by PSG for an unsanctioned trip to Saudi Arabia.
“At first it was great, I received a lot of encouragement as I’ve often said, but then people started to treat me differently, some of the Paris fans. The majority, on the other hand, treated me as well as they did at the start. There was a rift with a large section of the Paris crowd. Of course it wasn’t my intention,” Messi said.
He added, “But these are things that have already happened with Mbappe and Neymar too, it’s their way of doing things. But I still remember all those people who supported me, as they did at the start.”
Messi may have enraged PSG supporters by advising heir star forward Kylian Mbappe to leave the club for either Barcelona or Real Madrid.
“I prefer that you (Mbappe) go to Barca. But if you want to go to Madrid, do it, you deserve a real winning project,” Messi was quoted as saying in various media reports.
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