Lionel Messi has caused a stir in France. The Argentinian chose a visit to Saudi Arabia over his training at Paris Saint-Germain. That resulted in crooked faces in the dressing room.
Messi ignores Galtier and goes to Saudi Arabia
Suddenly images of Messi surfaced during his trip to the Gulf state. Due to an agreement in his contract as tourism ambassador of Saudi Arabia, he had to visit the country. And so the Argentinian world champion and his family could suddenly be admired in Riyadh.
Initially that seemed to be fine, because a day off was planned for the selection of the Parisians. However, after the debacle at home against Lorient (1-3 defeat), coach Christophe Galtier withdrew that day off. Only Messi didn’t care about that.
Earlier in the week, Messi’s request to visit Saudi Arabia had already been rejected by the club management, reports L’Équipe. Technical director Luís Campos is said to have made it clear to Messi that the moment was inappropriate, as PSG have still not secured the league title. After withdrawing the day off, the message seemed clear.
Yet Messi decided otherwise. He boarded the plane with his family. That irritated Galtier, while according to the French newspaper, the players would also be outraged that the star player flouted the rules. Some of Messi’s teammates are said to be ‘shocked’, writes L’Équipe. In addition, a discussion has started about the role of Messi in the dressing room.
Paris Saint-Germain players sweep ‘crisis’ off the table
Paris Saint-Germain suffered its sixth defeat of the season against Lorient on Sunday, so that the lead over number two Olympique Marseille is only five points. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma tries to keep the peace and refuses to speak of a crisis.
PSG lost four of the past seven league games and the Champions League is also the end of the story. In addition, it remains to be seen whether trainer Christophe Galtier will be allowed to continue in Paris after this season. However, Donnarumma does not want to hear about a ‘crisis’. “Absolutely not,” he told French media.
He added, “But we are angry and disappointed. We wanted to play a good game, but unfortunately we lost too many points at home this season. And we find that annoying for our fans, we hear a lot of noises around us, but we are keen to close the season well. The game has only just ended so I don’t want to say things I’ll regret, but we need to understand what went wrong and show on the pitch that we’re really disappointed.”
