The family trip to Saudi Arabia, it would seem, would end up costing Lionel Messi
dearly
.
Despite the fact that
the captain of the Argentine National Team claims to have been authorized to go to the Middle East
to fulfill his commercial commitments as a tourist ambassador, the newspaper
L'Equipe and the
RMC Sports
site
announced this Tuesday that
Paris Saint Germain
has decided
to open a disciplinary procedure
and suspend
the Argentine soccer player for
two weeks for his absence in training on Monday that had been rescheduled by coach Christophe Galtier after the 3-1 defeat against Lorient by Ligue 1 in France.
For now, these are journalistic versions since
the club from the French capital has not yet made a statement through its official channels.
There is also no response from the footballer's side based on the reports.
"According to our information, PSG made the decision this Tuesday afternoon to suspend Lionel Messi for fifteen days with immediate effect, for his trip to Saudi Arabia. Everything has been considered by the club for what is described internally as a serious error. Paris Saint-Germain initiated this classic disciplinary procedure as a result of the lack of attendance at work by an employee without any authorization. The club will not make any further comments on the matter. The Argentine will therefore miss the next two PSG games, at Troyes on Sunday, and against Ajaccio on Saturday May 13
," RMC Sports maintains on its website in a post signed by Arthur Perrot.
And he adds:
"Therefore, for fifteen days, Lionel Messi will be suspended from matches, but also from training. The Argentine will not be paid during these fifteen days either. With this decision, PSG highlights the new sports policy that has launched. A firm decision, with President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi at the helm, which shows that no player is above the institution".
Antonela Roccuzzo and Lionel Messi, in Saudi Arabia.
Timeline of a conflict
What happened?
After a hard fall against Lorient in the Parque de los Príncipes, the man from Rosario traveled with his family to the Middle East and was received there by local authorities, since he has commercial agreements with the local government.
His arrival in Arabia sparked a revolution among the people, who received him on social media with the hashtag #HelloMessi.
Even those in charge of governing the country also joined the greetings to Leo through the networks.
"I am pleased to welcome Tourism Ambassador Lionel Messi and his family on their second vacation here. We are happy to share our authentic Saudi welcome with all of you," wrote Ahmed Al Khateeb, Arab Tourism Minister.
So far so good.
But L'Equipe came out again with the tip caps and assured on the cover of its printed edition that Messi did not have permission to travel.
However, according to what Clarín had been able to find out, Messi had requested authorization to carry out this action.
The coaching staff led by Galtier had announced that the squad would have two days off after the game.
And Messi, knowing the window that had opened for him, took the opportunity to ask permission to make a trip that he had already had to suspend on a couple of occasions.
One of them was after the elimination of the Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich when Leo decided to postpone the commitment because he was very frustrated.
With the consummated defeat and in the midst of strong questions in a season that is far from ideal -eliminated in the Champions League and leader of Ligue 1, although with a very irregular pace-, the PSG coaching staff decided to change and ordered a training session for Monday and postpone the rest for this Tuesday.
The communication, according to what this newspaper found out, occurred when Messi and his family had already left for Ryad.
At that point, on board the plane, the trip was already impossible to postpone. In addition, in Arabia the season of high temperatures is already beginning and it would have been difficult to carry out all the scheduled activities outdoors.
The situation occurred in the midst of rumors of his possible return to Barcelona and his separation from PSG at the end of the season, something that the Spanish and French media fervently advocated.
The concrete thing is that the only formal offer that the Flea had is that of his current club with which he still has to hold a meeting to see if renewal is possible.
What interested Leo the most is that PSG's sports project lives up to his ambition to win the Champions League again.
However, if this disciplinary measure is confirmed, everything seems to go down an irreversible path in the relationship between the player and PSG.
