On the day that his 800th goal was expected, what was a concrete possibility for
Lionel Messi
came :
PSG
was eliminated from the Champions
League
.
The 0-1 in the first leg made it impossible to overcome in the rematch, even for a formation that has Leo,
Mbappé
, several stars from the world of football and promising youngsters.
On the other side there was a team that was more in Paris and Munich, Bayern.
Another slap with a German seal for the aspirations of the 10 of the
Argentine National Team
.
And now?
Now another story begins.
The Champions League is "an obsession" for the French and the millions of Qataris demand it year after year.
That's why they came to pay more than 200 million for Neymar and then they ended up whistling him.
That's why they gave Mbappé the keys so he wouldn't go to Real Madrid and today they saw that number 7 didn't even touch the ball.
That is why they went for Messi as soon as they saw him crying in Barcelona, and two years after his arrival they seem ready to say goodbye.
In short, football and its magic is the one that ends up deciding everything.
PSG was second in the group to Benfica by a goal difference and in the draw they saw how the Portuguese had to face Bruges in the round of 16 (they eliminated them with a 7-1 aggregate) and they were up against Bayern, perhaps the most fearsome team on the continent after Real.
"To cry to the church", or whatever they say in French.
Messi, alone against everyone at PSG.
Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP.
Pochettino suffered it and it will be up to Christophe Galtier, the DT who came to put out the fire, imposed discipline and was able to contain his figures.
At any moment we will find out that he was fired.
The first half of the season, until the World Cup, he won almost everything (he lacked that extra with Otamendi and Enzo's Benfica) and achieved the most important thing: he gave us a phenomenal Messi that we could enjoy in Qatar.
With that club at times with no other pulse than success at all costs, Jorge Messi
, Leo's father,
must sit down to negotiate a renewal .
The Argentine star will be 36 years old and although he is pleased with life in Paris, he knows that he is in an institution that is governed by its own rules and urgencies.
They speak different languages, not only at the time of the talks.
Leo had to suffer something similar in his time with the Argentine National Team.
The DTs passed, the leaders in AFA changed, players were tested and schemes were changed but the result was always the same: Messi against everyone.
And Messi just can't.
Less now that he drags 18 years at the top of football.
Once Scaloni surrounded him with youngsters and put together a reliable team, Messi (this Messi, the one PSG went looking for) managed to shine.
Something that does not happen at Mbappé's club, where one day a 16-year-old boy plays, another they buy a Portuguese about whom little or nothing is known, tomorrow they bring Sergio Ramos, and later they bet on the latest figure in Italian football .
Messi and a gesture that says it all.
Photo: EFE/EPA/RONALD WITTEK.
Now another story is coming in France, with Messi's future as constant news and eyes on Barcelona.
The club that saw him born is now the one that settles in the chair, looks at his cards and waits for his turn to play.
With the elimination of PSG accomplished, he can allow himself to dream of the return of his prodigal son.
A necessary return: since his departure they have only reaped frustrations in Europe, two seasons with four consecutive eliminations, first in the Champions League and then in the Europa League.
On one side and the other they are ironing out rough edges, and the chance became more possible since the ghost of Bayern began to haunt the Parc des Princes.
The MLS is the other player that is always named in Messi's future, with Inter Miami and David Beckham pushing him to take him to a league that is preparing to receive the next Copa América and the World Cup, no less.
A project, and in an ideal city for Leo and family.
Of course, it will be saying goodbye to high competition, something that the captain of the Argentine National Team seems not to be willing to give up in his aspirations to continue leading the team led by Lionel Scaloni.
Hence, all this soap opera that is coming will be important for Argentines.
They will be turbulent weeks in Paris but with the consolation that at the end of the month Leo will travel to the country to play with the National Team, the only and greatest certainty of what is to come.