CNN
In the two years Lionel Messi played for PSG, his legacy was being tarnished. Even If he won a Ballon d’Or and seemed to be back to his prime form with the Argentinian National Team every time he changed into that PSG kit, he didn’t seem to be the same player. The player we had come to love for the past 17 years didn’t seem motivated any more, his passion for the game of football seemed to be gone. When he played for the Blaugrana, every assist and every goal he scored was celebrated, even in the most inconsequential of matches, his passion on the field was present.
Although Messi has always been known to be more reserved on the pitch at Barça, he was always passionate and a great leader, but when La Pulga got to Paris, he didn’t seem to be the same player. His passion seemed like it was gone he didn’t seem to be sure of himself, he didn’t seem to celebrate goals with his teammates quite as often as before, and his displeasure with the club grew. They had put him aside and given all their attention to Mbappe, Messi seemed hurt by this disrespect and felt like he was only being used as some kind of football relic to fill the gap in PSG’s insubstantial history.
If all of that wasn’t enough, his passion for football off the field was dwindling, and his displeasure with the club kept growing. His displeasure with the club grew in May when they not only disrespected him as a player, but they were now disrespecting his legacy and privacy. For the past two years, Messi seemed unhappy even though he got to live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but seeing that his family had gotten used to living in the sunny city of Barcelona for 17 years, the sudden change to cold and cloudy weather made it difficult for the Messi family to get used to and even though that was a big change in their way of life they overlooked that, but the language barrier seemed to cause a problem for them and the constant attention and lack of privacy his family was given was too much for the family.
Paris, while big, seems very small when thousands of people gather around you anytime you go out with your kids. One of his children was having an especially hard time in Paris, and so the mother had to travel back often to Spain to spend some time there, leaving Messi alone. This made it more challenging for Messi, and his focus on the game wasn’t there anymore, at least for PSG.
If that wasn’t enough, when Messi went on A trip to Saudi Arabia in May with his family, PSG felt like they should fine and punish Messi for allegedly having contract negotiations with Al-Hilal this was the final nail in the coffin. They had disrespected him for two years, only using him for shirt sales and ticket sales, but when it came to making decisions on the field that would help him shine, they put him aside and made him feel like rubbish rather than making him feel more included in the squad and the club.
This is why Messi moved to Inter Miami and has gone back to his previous form since he came. He felt welcomed by the club, especially since his old friend David Beckham who partially owns the club, is there, but the fans have welcomed him with open arms and chant his name every time he touches the ball, which is certainly a step up from the bitter fans of PSG who hated him ever since he got there.
Most importantly, he gets to be with his family he is in total privacy and safety in Miami. He can spend time with his family without every reporter in the city waiting on his doorstep, and the language barrier is definitely no longer an issue, considering more than 70% of Miami’s population speaks Spanish. We are so happy to see Messi have passion for the game again, and hopefully, some of that passion for the game of football will rub off on sports fans in the U.S.
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