Superstar in France
‘Inaccurate and awkward’: criticism of Lionel Messi at PSG grows louder
Lionel Messi is still waiting for his first league goal for Paris St. Germain
© Franck Fife / AFP
Lionel Messi has so far not shown at Paris Saint-Germain what club officials are hoping for from him. Its shape is a mystery.
It should have been a pure precaution, said Paris coach Mauricio Pochettino after the game. But somehow it fit into the overall picture: Pochettino replaced superstar Lionel Messi during the break and before that Messi did very little. His appearances in Ligue 1 for PSG are more and more puzzling.
Paris coach Mauricio Pochettino downplayed Messi’s substitution at break: “He hasn’t been able to continue playing but it’s not a big deal,” said Pochettino Amazon Prime. However, Messi’s compatriot had also noticed that PSG had not taken place offensively in the first half. “Lille knows us well. We haven’t been able to feed our attacking players and take control of the game. But I don’t think swapping a single player or a single position changes everything,” said Pochettino.
Lionel Messi: “rough and awkward”
Messi, who came up as the wrong nine, barely did anything against Lille. “It was 45 minutes that were unworthy of his legendary talent. He was imprecise in front of the goal and in his passports,” said the team Le Figaro, but at the same time took Messi a little under protection. After all, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner is not the only Parisian player “football is more of a stammer”.
France’s largest sports newspaper L’Equipe gave Messi a lousy grade of 3 (10 being the best possible) and wrote: “It seemed like the Argentine, in whatever position, was unable to use his incredible technique to the advantage of his teammates.” Messi appeared “imprecise and awkward”.
Lionel Messi at PSG: No one is worse in this statistic
In five games and a total of 325 minutes of playing time, Messi is still waiting for a scorer point in Ligue 1. According to Opta no player in Ligue 1 has shot unsuccessfully on goal as often as the superstar (15 shots).
Lionel Messi should be there again on Wednesday at RB Leipzig. The Argentine has already scored three times in the Champions League, and in the first leg against Leipzig he secured PSG victory with a brace.