FEATURE | Inter Miami, PSG and an unwanted walk down memory lane for Lionel Messi | OneFootball

When Lionel Messi (38) left Paris Saint-Germain to ultimately join Inter Miami on a free transfer back in 2023, few would have thought that there would ever be a reunion between the Argentine and the reigning European champions.

However, the FIFA Club World Cup has offered that possibility. PSG will face Inter Miami in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon with a place in the quarter-finals of the inaugural edition of the tournament on the line. All signals suggest that it won’t be a warm reunion between PSG and Messi.

The former Barcelona forward left the club in acrimonious circumstances. Booed by the fans and sanctioned by the club, by the time of the pair’s divorce, both parties were happy to go their separate ways, although since, the disparaging comments have come from one side.

Messi’s arrival at PSG was greeted with much fanfare, naturally. However, his move to Paris was not one envisaged or even wanted by Messi, who had no intention to leave his club de coeur, Barcelona. The Catalan club’s financial difficulties took the decision out of his hands.

His record with Les Parisiens was respectable. In 75 appearances, he netted 32 goals and registered 35 assists. However, in his two seasons, he failed to take the club to the next level as PSG continued to flounder, even regress on the European stage.

Messi the victim of a broader context at PSG

Towards the end of his second and final season, and after a premature exit from the UEFA Champions League (3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Round of 16), Messi was the target for criticism. He wasn’t the only one. Many of the big stars part of the Galáctico era, notably Neymar, were also booed by the Parc des Princes faithful. Their discontent was directed towards the players, granted, but more towards the hierarchy and the transfer strategy implemented. The Paris faithful struggled to identify with the team and Messi, more than others, was the victim of this rupture that emerged.

The rupture, however, was not total, and there was still talk of a contract renewal heading into the final gameweeks of the season. An unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia, which saw him miss first-team training, put paid to the chances of a new deal for Messi.

Sanctioned by PSG, a sheepish Messi appeared in front of the camera two days later to apologise. Whilst his two-week suspension was cut short by a week, the financial sanction (two weeks docked wages) stood. The World champion had reached the point of no return. A move that promised so much ultimately failed to deliver – for both parties – and Messi, quietly, exited the scene.

He hasn’t failed to hit out at his former club since, whenever given the chance to evoke his two-year spell in Paris. “These were two years where I wasn’t happy. I missed a lot of things,” he said, notably voicing disappointment that he couldn’t be as involved in his children’s daily life as he was in Barcelona.

“As I said at the time, I didn’t want to leave to go to Paris. I had to quickly adapt to a new place after so many years at PSG,” he said.

Al-Khelaifi ‘thanks’ Messi

Messi has also expressed disappointment that his World Cup win with Argentina in 2022 was not celebrated by the club. “I was the only player out of the 25 (World Cup winners) that wasn’t recognised. It was understandable. I was in a place that, because of us, wasn’t world champions once again,” admitted Messi, conscious of why, given that Argentina beat France in the final, the achievement was not greeted with such pomp in the French capital.

The Argentine also didn’t enjoy life in Paris. “They (the neighbours) rang at our door at 21:00/22:00 in the evening to tell me that my kids shouldn’t play football. The neighbours bothered us. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as we wanted it to. That affected my mindset a lot, and it had repercussions on the pitch. In Paris, on a personal level, I didn’t feel good,” he said.

He continued, “These two years were not nice for me. I wasn’t happy on a daily basis, with training, or in matches. It really took me time to adapt to all of that.”

Messi has often taken his chance, whenever speaking to the media, to voice his discontent during his time with Les Parisiens, which has even come as a surprise to his entourage, as per L’Équipe. PSG, however, have rarely evoked La Pulga.

Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi recently thanked the Argentine, however. “I thank Kylian Mbappé and Messi, Neymar, Zlatan (Ibrahimovic). They have all been very important for the club,” he told C à Vous following PSG’s Champions League triumph.

Messi will take a walk down memory lane in Atlanta, but the memories conjured certainly won’t be pleasant ones.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle