Lionel Messi and Paris: Not quite an affair to remember

A relationship, more of convenience than convivial, ended on Saturday when Lionel Messi and Paris St Germain (PSG) officially split. With boos and after a defeat.

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The media release from PSG, two days after a similar one announcing the departure of Sergio Ramos, said Messi’s time in Paris was “adventure”. Jeers from a section of PSG fans at Parc des Princes was proof of there being at least two sides to every story.

Early last month, as a precautionary measure, PSG had to provide security to where Messi, Marco Verratti and Neymar Jr lived as fans protested about bad management. “What a waste!” was a Le Parisien headline above a picture of Messi, who turned down PSG’s offer for an extension. The paper was quoted in The Guardian as saying that PSG, “with their individual stars and their mercantile approach” was “occasionally” about football. L’Equipe said Messi seemed to have as much desire to play in Ligue 1 “as he did to go to the dentist.”

All this less than five months after the biggest bang of Messi’s glittering career. PSG blowing a two-goal lead and losing 2-3 to Clermont summed up what felt more like a misadventure for Messi and the club. One that cost PSG $32.1 million in wages post-tax but added to the structural problems instead of solving them. One where an unsanctioned trip to Saudi Arabia fetched the world’s best player, according to PSG manager Christophe Galtier, a sanction. One where Messi was photographed in Barcelona with Cold Play instead of being in Paris for a French football awards night.

And one where two Ligue 1 titles and a Trophée des Champions (played between French league and cup winners) proved inadequate compensation for the big-eared trophy PSG crave the most: the Champions League.

If Messi, 35, moving to Saudi Arabia is a “done deal”, as a source had told AFP weeks ago, or if he goes to Inter Miami, a fifth Champions League will stay a chimera. In August 2021, after arriving wearing a shirt that said ‘This Is Paris’, Messi had said PSG would be the “ideal” place for that. PSG, who had played the final and a semi-final of the Champions League before Messi, lost in the round of 16 after he joined.

In 74 games, Messi had 67 goal contributions (32 goals and 35 assists). This season, there were 11 assists for Kylian Mbappe alone. Against Marseille, Messi found Mbappe with a weighted pass that took PSG ahead before the Frenchman returned the compliment for Messi to make it 2-0. The night ended 3-0 after another Messi assist for Mbappe.

There were also flashes of brilliance against Clermont last August, an assist for Mbappe that produced the joint-fastest goal in Ligue 1. There was a free-kick in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time against Lille in February that fetched a 4-3 win. And it was Messi’s goal in the 1-1 draw against Strasbourg that fetched PSG the league title. That was Messi’s 496th in European leagues, taking him past Cristiano Ronaldo as the most prolific in the continent’s top five leagues. From 11 goals and 15 assists in 34 games in 2021-22, Messi improved to 41 goal contributions in 40 games this term. In Ligue 1 he had 16 goals and 16 assists, the most, which was two less than Angel di Maria’s record.

PSG’s followers on Twitter increased by 800,000 in one month of Messi joining, so it is hard to dispute that his presence significantly boosted the club’s brand value. Conversely, being at PSG meant Messi, who didn’t have a club once Barcelona couldn’t afford him, could be in one of Europe’s top leagues and play Champions League.

So comfortable was PSG’s sway over the rest of the field that Messi arrived in Doha fresher than he had ever been ahead of a World Cup. He produced a performance for the ages, being the first to score in all knockout rounds and win the World Cup. It fetched Messi his seventh Ballon d’Or.

All his professional life Messi had stretched every sinew to show that he didn’t reserve his best only for the claret of Barcelona. That sections of PSG fans thought Messi hit the heights only for Argentina would be one of football’s most enduring ironies.

But it is true that Messi’s form dipped after the World Cup. From seven goals and 10 assists in 13 league games before Doha, he managed nine goals and six assists in 18 games after that. But not just Messi, a World Cup hangover hit the team and from four losses in 2022, PSG lost nine games in all competitions in 2023.

Injury to Presnel Kimpembe, failure to sign Hakim Ziyech, and Mbappe not being fit to start the first leg hurt PSG and contributed to Bayern Munich sending them out of the Champions League in the round of 16.

The bigger problem was to fit Messi, Mbappe and Neymar Jr as forwards without disrupting the balance of the team. Argentina, France and Brazil could do that by getting the national teams to play around the superstar, compensate for his lack of running or defensive play. But at PSG, three superstars were possibly two too many. Neither Mauricio Pochettino nor Galtier could solve the problem of a gilded frontline which rarely tackled and was reluctant to press.