Lionel Messi has finally talked about his time at Paris Saint-Germain after leaving the French Ligue 1 club to join Inter Miami of Major League Soccer. Messi admits he found the change ‘difficult’ after coming to Paris in 2021.
Messi left his boyhood club FC Barcelona in a surprising turn of events 2 years ago to join PSG. There were expectations that the Argentine maestro would fulfil the club’s longstanding dream of winning the Champions League trophy, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Messi scored 32 goals and gave 35 assists during his 2 seasons with PSG and he chose not to renew his contract to leave for MLS earlier this month.
Messi, who turns 36 today, admits that the change was also difficult for his family.
In a recent interaction with BeIN Sports, Messi said, “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.” He added, “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.”
Fans began booing him in his last days as a PSG player and a month before his exit, the 2022 World Cup winner was suspended by PSG for an unofficial 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.”