2022 was to signal the end of procrastination, sweep the blues and finally anchor Leo Messi in Paris, where he has so far only scored six goals, including five in the Champions League.
Patatras!
La Pulga is positive for the Covid, as if reality is still catching up to it, preventing it from falling into its new red and blue life.
He would certainly not have played in Vannes this Monday evening (9:10 p.m.) in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France, but it is now towards the shock in Lyon, on January 9, for the resumption of Ligue 1 that the eyes turn. turn.
Its presence promises to be uncertain and even becomes a problem in this month of rise. If he had to skip this visit to the Rhône, Messi will not have worn the PSG jersey between December 23 and January 14, an eternity longer as his acclimatization takes longer than hoped.
Uprooted after 21 years in Barcelona (from 13 to 34), torn from his club and his city against his will last summer, almost driven out of Catalonia, the Argentine genius has just spent four complicated months at PSG that this test positive for Covid-19 prolongs, basically.
The adaptation of each other, within his family, takes place with forceps and his integration into Mauricio Pochettino's team swears in this eleven baroque and not very collective, focused on individual talent and dominated by the unique aura. by Kylian Mbappé.
The transplant will have to wait once again.
Solitary in Argentina
During the Christmas holidays and the big week of vacation granted by the club, Leo Messi and his relatives had returned to Argentina where they still are. It was from his native country that he learned that he had contracted the virus by performing a PCR test. “Leo is in contact with the club's medical service. When it is negative, it will come back to us. It is located in Argentina. From that moment on, we'll see if he can play, ”commented Mauricio Pochettino at a press conference on Sunday, while he faces three other positive cases in his squad: Juan Bernat, Sergio Rico and Nathan Bitumazala, complicating his task a little more for the match at Vannes.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or France Football is now subject to the isolation rules in force in Argentina.
He was positive on January 1 but it all depends on when he contracted the disease.
Sources advance the date of December 27 or 28 with a shelving since that time.
He will now undergo further examinations and wait to be negative.
The striker will respect his quarantine while knowing that the clubs have a very useful know-how.
Positive for the Covid last August, Gana Gueye was able to extricate himself from Israel in a medical plane thanks to the interpersonal skills of PSG who then competed for the Champions Trophy against Lille.
One third of missed matches
This new setback poisons Messi and the life of PSG. The number 30 will miss the return to collective training, perhaps the appointment in Lyon, the first dress rehearsal of the year even if Neymar is still far from ready (he is being treated in Brazil). In short, he will miss all these little moments of the post-Christmas holiday preparation which allow him to envisage optimal form in a few weeks. If Messi cannot return to France this week, we must now consider his first steps in 2022 against Brest at the Parc des Princes on Saturday January 15, just before the express camp in Qatar from January 16 to 20.
Since his signing in early August in Paris, the left-hander has already had to give up 9 out of 25 possible matches, or a big third.
A ratio that is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
As soon as it will be available, it will perhaps disappear with this funny international calendar which sees Argentina play two international matches (Chile and Colombia) on January 28 and February 2, thirteen days before the reception of Real Madrid, the match that the entire Parisian galaxy is waiting for.
Paris holds its breath, hoping that it will be there, rid of the setbacks that mark its first months in Paris.