Daniele Orsato does not care.
The 47-year-old electrician sees Leo Messi’s pleading look, but he turns his head away.
There will be no saving free kick.
Orsato might be the right answer to the button trivia quiz, as it is possible that he refereed the last Champions League match of Messi’s career last Tuesday.
In any case, Messi remained on the surface of the grass to marvel at the hardness of life. Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka had started a defensive run from a distance of five meters from the back, but already a few steps he had caught the Argentinian.
All it took was a gentle lean on the shoulder, and Messi fell on the grass of the Allianz Arena.
Goretzka took the ball, and Orsato saw nothing wrong with the situation.
At the end of February, Messi was named the best male player in the world. Of course, one could not have expected anything else from Fifa, which organized the selection, because Kirppu had just crowned his wonderful career in the umbrella organization’s own World Cup tournament.
However, Qatar’s heroics are not enough to cover Messi’s complete congealment in the shirt of his club team PSG. The Parisian giant went scoreless in two quarter-final matches against Bayern Munich, and the Arab owners’ dream of winning the Champions League was pushed back by at least a year.
Messi had a lot of time to think about the continuation of his career, when he was left sitting on the playing field after Goretzka’s tackle. Does club football still offer the same pleasure as when you were younger in Barcelona?
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Against the lilliputs of the French league, Messi can still decide matches. PDO
On Saturday, Messi played full minutes at Brest’s tiny home stadium. Just under 15,000 spectators watched him set Kylian Mbappé free to score the winning goal in stoppage time.
However, the star duo’s ventilation remained anemic. The French championship as a merit does not satisfy the ambition of either.
Messi himself is not to blame for the limitations of biology. The player, who will turn 36 in the summer, has inevitably already passed the peak of his physical performance, and from now on, the goretzka of the world will only take the ball away from him more and more rudely.
Right after the World Cup, the PSG management waved an open check in front of Messi, but for some reason he is still not committed to continue with the club.
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PSG coach Christophe Galtier (right) has not demanded Messi’s contribution to the team’s defensive work. PDO
In addition to the Champions League disappointment, one would have to find out one’s own position in the team’s hierarchy. The current head coach Christophe Galtier will be fired in the summer at the latest, and Messi cannot be sure that his new coach would accept the Argentine’s free pass in defense work.
– We don’t miss this. Messi says he has adapted to the club, but what does that mean? He can score 18 goals and assist 16 against Angers or Clermont, but in all important matches he disappears from the picture, said Jérôme Rothen, who commented on the Champions League for the RMC channel.
A former PSG player himself, Rothen still loves the capital club.
– We all saw at the World Cup how he invested in his team there. I understand that the national team is a different matter, but I think he could also respect his club a little. It pays his salary though, Rothen continued.
– PSG believed that he could lead us to win the Champions League, but he won’t win us anything at all.
In the World Cup, Argentina’s head coach Lionel Scaloni built his entire team around Messi. The captain was given complete freedom on the field and the result was accordingly.
However, the truth is that the standard of the game is much higher in the deciding stages of the Champions League than in the World Cup finals.
The Parisian giant had never reached the semi-finals of the Champions League before 2020, when they went all the way to the final. The following year, the bet ended in a semi-final loss to Manchester City.
After Messi arrived to strengthen the team, has it gone backwards in light of the results. Both spring 2022 and 2023 ended already at the quarter-final stage.
If the club wants to break its European Cup curse, the next head coach should even consider leaving Messi on the bench if he decides to stay in Paris.
PSG made a loss of 370 million euros in the last fiscal year. For this year, a loss of 100–150 million is expected, and this also weighs in the balance.
The termination of Messi’s contract could also be a blessing for the club.
Kirppu himself has also entertained his fans by thinking that he could continue even until the summer 2026 WC tournament. If it really bothers Messi, it would definitely be worth it for him to regulate his physical exertion.
One realistic option would be a move to the American MLS league, where at least Inter Miami believes it will offer an intriguing challenge to Messi.
– This would certainly be the biggest player trade in history. I can’t think of a star of this caliber from a big football country who would have come to this country, Inter coach Phil Neville said For The Athletic.
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Robert Taylor of the Finnish national team may have Messi as his teammate. PDO
Neville got washed in Miami, because the owners of the club include his good friend and old playing partner David Beckham.
– This is certainly in the same category as Becks’ transfer (from Real Madrid to LA Galaxy in 2007), maybe even bigger. We are talking about one of the best futa players of all time.
Finns are particularly interested in Messi’s possible transfer to Miami, because it would mean that he would become a teammate of Huuhkajat gambler Robert Taylor.
MLS would undoubtedly mean a step back in the futsal career. However, we football fans have plenty of beautiful memories from Messi’s career in both Barcelona and Argentina jerseys – and we are grateful for all of them.
It also tells you that they have practically not accumulated at all in PSG’s colors.