At home, he is a national hero. And in a friendly match against Peru, where thousands of Argentines celebrated a recent victory in the World Cup, and just a day ago in a match against Curacao in Santiago del Estero, the whole world was on fire. Messi. The Argentine superstar scored a hat-trick and passed the 100-goal barrier (he reached 102) with Albiceleste and everything seemed perfect to him.

Of course, one can hardly say that Messi returned from Qatar indifferent, because he won the World Cup. Between 1 February and 4 March, he scored a goal in each of the five league games he started, including the stoppage-time winning goal against Lille, and a goal and two assists in a 3–0 win over Marseille at Velodrome. . Statistics say that even against Lyon on Sunday, Messi created five chances.

In the end, Christophe Galtier wanted to protect his player on the one hand, and on the other hand drove his “nail” for his presence in the team. “Messi can be expected to do everything himself. He tries very hard. Try different things, some passes. There were technical errors in his game with connections. Whistles but hard to take because he gives so much, scores, helps,” the French coach said in Messi’s 50th Ligue 1 appearance since leaving Barcelona, ​​although he pointedly added that his team “he must invest to win titles, and expressed his hope that past triumphs hadn’t “tired” some players. This last bit can easily apply to Messi, who only rose to the top of the world last December, and perhaps everything else pales in front of him now, including Paris Saint-Germain, especially now that their Champions League hopes have faded. for the second season.

“The problem with the team is that when the No. 1 goal is no longer possible, it seems that there is nothing left at all levels,” said Lyon coach Laurent Blanc, who himself coached Paris Saint-Germain from 2013 to 2016 year.

Gaultier’s job is to rekindle motivation, and back-to-back home defeats against Rennes and Lyon show he is struggling to do so, even now that the dangerous bells of even losing the league are ringing.

But also for Messi, who failed to “close” with his new team during those two years in Paris, as with Paris Saint-Germain with him, the dilemma is more long-term. Can she find the spark again in Paris? Or will he try to find refuge in La Liga or somewhere else? With the advent of Sunday, it seems that the flame, like the Paris Saint-Germain season, flickers.

Source: New York Times.

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