MESSIMANIA SWEEPS PARIS
Lionel Messi sets his sights on more Champions League glory after completing his shock move to Paris Saint Germain on Wednesday.
Lionel Messi has set his sights on more Champions League glory after completing his move to Paris Saint Germain.
In raucous scenes at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, the Albiceleste captain was welcomed to the French capital by thousands of adoring fans. The 34-year-old superstar was presented to media from all over the world at a press conference after arriving the previous day. He has penned a two-year contract with the option of a third season, worth a reported US$41 million a season.
PSG quickly emerged as the favourites to sign Messi following the shock of his departure last week from Barcelona and he arrives eyeing a fifth Champions League, with the most recent of his four victories with his old club coming in 2015.
“I have said many times that my dream is to win another Champions League and I think I am in the ideal place to have that chance and to do it,” Messi told reporters inside a packed auditorium, with the audience including his wife Antonella, their children, and his father and agent, Jorge.
Messi and Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League last season by PSG, who went on to reach the semifinals following their run to the final in 2020.
“Sometimes you can have the best team in the world and not win. That’s football,” Messi, who won 35 trophies in total with Barca, added as he prepares to team up with Neymar and Kylian Mbappé in Paris.
“We know how difficult the Champions League is but Paris know that too – they have come very close in recent years but it is a competition in which the best teams take part and the best team doesn’t always win.”
MESSI-MANIA
PSG are shelling out cash for Messi, who will wear the number 30 jersey, though they are confident they will get it back. Disbelieving fans were already queueing up outside the club’s different shops in the capital to buy the shirt with his name and number on the back as confirmation of the signing swept social media.
Messi was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Paris on Tuesday, greeting supporters at the airport and then waving from the balcony of the plush hotel where he is staying near the Champs Élysées.
On Wednesday, he appeared unfazed as he emerged, immaculately turned out, to talk to media, although he did seem slightly uneasy at times, not least when one member of the audience started chanting his name.
Unlike when Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed for PSG in 2012 there was no glitzy unveiling in front of the Eiffel Tower, but Messi was photographed on the pitch before greeting the supporters who had waited at the stadium entrance, watching his press conference on a big screen.
“I had to come here with my young children,” said one supporter, called Wesley. “They don’t know about everything Messi has done in his career but I hope they will remember this for a long time because Messi coming to PSG is crazy stuff.”
“I’m very proud to present Leo Messi as a PSG player,” said Nasser al-khelaifi, the president of the Qatar-owned outfit, earlier. “It is an amazing and historic day for the club, for the football world.”
‘CAN’T WAIT’
Messi made no secret of his sadness at leaving Barça, the only club he has so far represented in his 17-year professional career, as he gave a tearful press conference at the Camp Nou last weekend.
However, on Wednesday, he said he was looking forward to getting started in his new home.
“Everyone knows that my departure from Barça was very hard because I spent so many years there, but as soon as I arrived here I felt enormously happy,” said the player who scored 672 goals in 778 games for the Catalans. “Now I can’t wait to start training.”
Messi has had no pre-season, having been on holiday in Miami and Ibiza since winning the Copa América with Argentina a month ago. He is therefore unlikely to make his debut for PSG soon, and certainly not this weekend when Mauricio Pochettino’s team play Strasbourg in Ligue 1.
PSG are now even more obvious favourites to run away with the French title, having missed out last season to Lille.
Pochettino hailed his new superstar arrival on Friday as an “incredible” talent who will lift his team to new heights this season. The former Tottenham Hotspur coach said that to see Messi begin a new chapter at PSG was to have “the same sensation as the whole squad and the fans – enthusiasm and positive energy.”
“The players have received him superbly – there’s a good feeling, good communication,” said Pochettino, who like Messi spent an early spell at Newell’s Old Boys back in Argentina. The coach also spent a large chunk of his own playing career in Barcelona – albeit starring for smaller neighbour Espanyol. “I have always admired him. He’s one of the greatest players in the world – if not the greatest.”
Messi knows he is not ready to feature yet, but he is eager to play.
“I hope to play as soon as possible, as I want to play. When the staff decide I can then it will be with great pleasure,” he said Wednesday.