Paris Saint-Germain’s chairman responded to Messi complaints over the French club team not celebrating Argentina’s 2022 World Cup victory over France
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From left: Lionel Messi and Nasser al-Khelaifi . Photo: 305 pics/GC Images, Sipa via AP
Lionel Messi’s complaint last year that his former Paris soccer club did not celebrate his World Cup victory in 2022 has continued to irk the team’s chairman.
Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi shared his feelings with the French website RMC Sport, calling the Argentinian soccer star out for a lack of “respect” over his comments last September.
“He’s not a bad guy but I don’t like it,” Al-Khelaifi told the outlet. “I’ll say, not just for him but for everyone, we talk when we’re there, not when we’re gone. That’s not our style… I have great respect for [Messi] but if someone wants to speak badly about Paris Saint-Germain afterwards, that’s not good. That’s not respect.”
Messi, 36, had told ESPN last fall that he resents his former Paris Saint-Germain club for not having celebrated his World Cup win — with Argentina beating out France 4-2 — when he returned to the club-level team.
All 24 of Messi’s Argentinian teammates received some sort of honor from their club-level teams when they returned from the international tournament. Messi, who scored two goals in the final and was named the best player of the tournament, was not recognized, however.
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Lionel Messi. Daniel Jayo/Getty
A major factor in why Messi wasn’t recognized, Al-Khelaifi said, was that Argentina had defeated France. The French team was also led by Kylian Mbappe, the face of the Paris Saint-Germain team and Messi’s teammate.
“If anyone talks about the fact that we didn’t celebrate him enough after he won the World Cup, we’re in France and he won against Kylian,” Al-Khelaifi said. “We are a French club. I don’t want the whole stadium to be against him either.”
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That did sink in for Messi, who had told ESPN “it was understandable” that Paris Saint-Germain hadn’t celebrated his World Cup win because it meant celebrating a French loss. However, he still lamented: “I was the only player of the 25 that didn’t get a [club] recognition.”
“I’m going to say one thing about Messi, the best player in the world and the best player in history,” Al-Khelaifi said. “It was not easy for him to come here… After Barcelona. There [in Barcelona], everything was for Messi: the players, the coaches, and the management. He comes here and it’s not the same thing, we also have other players, we have Kylian and also Neymar.”
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From left: Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi. Xavier Laine/Getty
Messi reportedly had trouble adjusting to life in Paris, especially on the Paris Saint-Germain super team that included some of the top players in the world, like France’s Mbappe and Brazilian star Neymar Jr.
He initially joined the Paris team after 21 years with Barcelona, where he was the famed Spanish soccer club’s longtime captain and all-time leading goal scorer. After a tumultuous two years with Paris Saint-Germain, Messi opted to leave the team in June when his contract expired.
Messi then joined Major League Soccer to play for Inter Miami — a move that turned him and soccer into a mainstream attraction in American sports over the summer. He is signed on to play for Miami through December 2025, according to ESPN.
“I love what I do, I enjoy playing, and now it’s a different way,” Messi told the outlet last September. “That is why I made the decision to come to Miami and not continue my career elsewhere: you experience it a different way.”
