Lionel Messi must regain leadership. The new crisis of sport paris saint germain It set off alarm clocks, because it happened just the week before the round of 16 of their highest goal for the rest of the season, the Champions League, kicks off. Everything was going smoothly, but this Tuesday a rival will appear on the road who can be considered an amulet or even his worst nightmare.
Is that the draw made last November, before the World Cup in Qatar, revealed that the Bayern Munich from Germanythe one that overshadowed his later years in the Barcelona of Spain before the sensational departure of the Catalan team, still being his rival in the quest to give PSG the first Orejona in its history, the one that was so close in August 2020 when, in the midst of a pandemic, the Bavarian team snatched it from them in Lisbon.
Messi was not part of that team led by Thomas Tuchel (Angel Di María and Paredes were), but the man from Rosario had been part of the bubble that would define the Champions League that season. Memory, of course, is not the best.
It is that in those quarter-finals, in just one game, Bayern Munich gave him what, so far, is the worst defeat of his football career: a 2-8 finishpaperless, in which he also wore the Barcelona captain’s ribbon, without being able to change the course of the match as he has done so many times.
Until that moment, Messi had almost always been a positive protagonist in the duels against the Bavarians. The freshest memory is when he defeated Jerome Boateng, on May 6, 2015, for the first leg of the semifinals.
That day marked the man from Rosario two goals for Barcelona 3-0, in the 32nd and 35th minute of the second half. The rest was Neymar’s in injury time.
The one to remember was the second, when Messi received from Rakitic, with a hitch broke Boateng’s hip and then stung him before Manuel Neuer left. Barcelona, beyond the Bavarian 3-2 victory in the second leg, went to the final to then crown themselves in the final against Juventus.
The other time he managed to eliminate him was in the quarter-finals of 2009, thanks to another sublime performance: two goals and an assist in the 4-0 that practically closed the series (they drew 1-1 in Germany). Yes, that time he also managed to lift Orejona with Barcelona, after beating Chelsea in the semi-final and Manchester United in the final.
In addition to that 2-8, there was the 2013 series, for the semi-finals of the Champions League, when the 0-4 (also final) in Monaco, where he played the full 90 minutes, was irreplaceable for Messi and company. Rosario’s man also came off the bench in the 0-3 draw the Bavarians made at the Camp Nou.
Now, the story could be very different. Beyond the fact that PSG finished second in a formidable group definition with Benfica, Messi is at boiling point: he won the World Cup with the Argentine national team and wants to give the greatest joy to Parisian fans too.
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.