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Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have been told that they will not achieve their long-term objective of winning the UEFA Champions League with Lionel Messi in the team.
Messi scored the winner for Les Parisiens in their 4-3 victory over LOSC Lille in Ligue 1 on February 19. His free-kick goal in the dying embers of the game saw the team put an end to their abysmal three-match losing streak.
However, it was not enough for the seven-time Ballon d'Or to avoid facing criticism. Several pundits, including former PSG star Jerome Rothen, have blasted his largely underwhelming performance against Lille.
French journalist Samuel Ollivier has become the latest to take shots at the Argentinian icon. He called out the forward for his tendency to casually walk around the pitch during games, a habit he thinks he picked up during his time at Barcelona.
He said on L'EQUIPE de Greg [via Crumpe]:
“Messi was already walking on the pitch at Barca towards the end and it is not the best version of Barca. I'm not just talking about defensive actions and [during] substitutions."
Ollivier went on to lift the lid on a conversation he had with Thierry Henry regarding the 35-year-old. He revealed that the French legend made him aware of how the superstar is hardly involved in matches.
He said:
"Against Lille, I saw the match with Thierry Henry. He allowed me to see things that I sometimes did not see. Clearly, in offensive activities and high-intensity running, Messi is never in the game. We wait for him to have the ball to see him eventually try to do something."
The journalist also claimed that Messi leaving PSG would not be a big loss for them. He concluded by insisting that the Parisians will not win the Champions League with the player in their team:
"In Ligue 1, it goes, but in the Champions League, it will never pass. And today PSG's objective is indeed the Champions League. You don't win this competition with a player who walks on the pitch."
Will Messi leave PSG?
The former Barcelona superstar's contract with Les Parisiens expires at the end of the season. There are thus doubts about his long-term future at the Parc des Princes.
The Ligue 1 giants are reportedly keen to tie the player down to a new deal soon. The two parties are scheduled to hold talks over it after their Champions League Round-of-16 tie with Bayern Munich on March 8.
Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup winner continues to be linked with a return to Barcelona.
