Hakimi, overshadowed by Messi at PSG: ‘I wasn’t enjoying it, I felt small’ | OneFootball

Achraf Hakimi, a PSG star and captain of his national team, said that Lionel Messi’s arrival at the Parisian club affected the way he played. “I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t dare do the things I like to do, like attack and be important. I felt like a small player,” the Moroccan admitted on The Bridge podcast.

He also recalled his difficult adaptation in France and how the Argentine star’s presence changed the team’s style. “My first year in Paris was difficult. I came from Inter, where I was a different kind of full-back. Messi arrived later and the project changed. We didn’t know he was going to come, and the style of play changed.”

This situation took its toll on him, as he repeatedly received criticism for his different ways of playing. “With the national team I was an important player; mentally, it was a difficult time to play at PSG the way I wanted. I remember being heavily criticized. They said, ‘Why does he play like that for Morocco and not here?’ People don’t understand the difference; adapting takes time,” he said.

In the same podcast, Kylian Mbappé referred to Hakimi’s adaptation to the squad: “The important thing is that our coach, Mauricio Pochettino, told me: ‘Look, Hakimi is the same age as you, you’re going to get along well, try to integrate him into the team.’ I replied, ‘Yes, I will,’ and I got in touch with him,” he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.