He has needed a whole year to adapt to Paris, after a lifetime settled in Barcelona, but the Argentine Lionel Messi is once again the decisive player who for years dazzled the world with a genius that last season seemed to have lost.
The ex-Barcelonista has recovered the smile, the spark in his game and the decisive touch that have led him to be the key player in the start of the Paris Saint-Germain season, something difficult to imagine after last season, so mediocre that it left him out of the fight for the Ballon d’Or for the first time in 16 years.
A reflection of the poor performance of the man who treasures that award seven times, which, in the last three decades, has lived linked to his figure.
But now, Messi is experiencing a renaissance at 35 years old, eager to show that, in a year marked by the World Cup in Qatar, the doomsayers who insisted on burying him were too quick.
DIFFICULT ADAPTATION
The player himself confesses that he feels better, that he has left behind a hard period of adaptation to a new city, a new country, a new club and a new language, too many changes that disoriented him last season.
Something that did not go unnoticed by the stands, who came to whistle at him despite the stature of his resume, nor by many observers, who pointed out that PSG had signed a player on the verge of retirement.
Messi has built in Paris the calm and familiar atmosphere that he had in Barcelona. After months living in a hotel, he finally found a residence in the exclusive municipality of Neuilly and that serenity has translated to the pitch.
The Argentine, the third oldest player in the squad, only surpassed by the Spanish Sergio Ramos and the Costa Rican Keylor Navas, has become the masterpiece of the coach’s scheme, Christophe Galtier.
ESSENTIAL PIECE
He is the only footballer who has participated as a starter in the twelve official matches played by the team, the only one who has played more than 1,000 minutes.
In addition, he already has seven goals – last weekend he got the first free kick with PSG – and eight assists, while last year, at this point, he had only scored one goal.
“I’m more comfortable at the club, in the dressing room and on the pitch,” the footballer recently assured.
Just a few months ago, his future was uncertain. PSG only longed to keep Kylian Mbappé, forgetting that he had the most brilliant player in recent years on his squad.
Now, the stands have regained their enthusiasm and the club applauds that Messi remembers the one from Barça.
The sports director, Luis Campos, stated in an interview with RMC radio that he was “very satisfied with Leo” and had even suggested that he stay longer at the club.
After his tumultuous departure from Barça in the summer of 2021, the player signed for two seasons plus a third as an option.
As published on Monday by the newspaper Le Parisien, which cites sources from his environment, for now he has not received any official proposal to continue.
But the Argentine, who has also recovered a good version with his team, less than two months before the start of the World Cup, seems to have found in the French capital the context that allows him to shine again.
Galtier is clear that he has in his arsenal a cartridge capable of making a difference and that, in his best form, Messi has no limits.
“He has a relationship with his teammates that makes me think that he is happy and when Messi is happy he has a great performance,” the coach assured last Saturday, convinced that the Argentine “can return to the level he has had throughout his career. race”.
