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Lionel Messi is on the lookout for a destination after completing the two-season bond he secured upon his arrival at Paris Saint-Germain in August 2021. The open option of a third campaign was not exercised between various disagreements of club and player, who leaves the French capital after a course in which he fulfilled the great objective he had pending in his fantastic career, that of lifting the World Cup, but without marking the differences that PSG expected in the Champions League, Liza in which the team was knocked out for the second consecutive season in the second round. Winning the league, the ninth in eleven years, is not enough for the expectations of Qatar Sports Investments, the company that owns the club.
PSGPSG
2
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Alexandre Letellier, min. 80), El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Sergio Ramos, Danilo Pereira (Ismaël Gharbi, min. 88), Warren Zaïre-Emery, Verratti, Achraf Hakimi, Vitor Ferreira (Renato Sanches, min. 57), Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Hugo Ekitike (Carlos Soler, min. 57)
CLE Clermont
3
Diaw, Wieteska, Max Caufriez, Alidu Seidu, Neto Borges (Florent Ogier, min. 88), Gonalons (Yohann Magnin, min. 69), Johan Gastien, Zeffane (Jim Allevinah, min. 45), Kyei (Komnen Andric, min. 84), Muhammed Cham and Elbasan Rashani
Goals 1-0 min. 16: Sergio Ramos. 2-0 min. 20: Kylian Mbappe. 2-1 min. 24: Johan Gastien. 2-2 min. 46: Zeffane. 2-3 min. 62: Kyei.
Arbitrator Thomas Leonard
Yellow cards Kylian Mbappe (min. 28), Danilo Pereira (min. 75) and Wieteska (min. 91)
🔴🔵
#MerciMessi
pic.twitter.com/zH1sHfrS7A
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_espanol) June 3, 2023
The goodbye of the Argentine was made official by the Parisian entity a couple of hours before the end of the season against Clermont, a procedure already with the title assured, the third twisted of a bittersweet step through the French capital crowned with a defeat at the end of a cycle. PSG failed to keep a two-goal lead and suffered a comeback at the Parc des Princes (2-3). In the end, the capital giant finished champion with a single point advantage over Lens, winner in Auxerre on the final day. The revelation of the championship enters the group stage of the Champions League, a competition in which Olympique de Marseille will seek a place in the previous one.
Messi leaves Paris after winning two leagues and a domestic Super Cup and signing a particular statistic that makes up his uneven performance, discussed by the stands despite contributing 32 goals and 35 passes that ended in goal in 75 games played between all official competitions. In this season in the 41 games in which he was present he left his stamp on 41 goals (20 goals and 21 assists) and a fluid connection with Mbappé, who closes the season as the top scorer in Ligue 1 with 29 goals.
Whistles for Lionel Messi in his last game in a PSG shirt... 😳 pic.twitter.com/hhRZlkxeRV
— Pablo Giralt (@giraltpablo) June 3, 2023
"Paris Saint-Germain is proud to have been able to count on its ranks with the best player in history and, wishes Leo many more successes in the rest of his career," said the club in a farewell accompanied by the whistles of the ultra sector of the Parc des Princes when the Argentine was last announced over the stadium PA system.
The match, an entertaining football back-and-forth, was full of messages. All PSG players carried on their backs the name of their teammate Sergio Rico, hospitalized after an accident when he was hit by a horse. His countryman Sergio Ramos dedicated a goal to him, which opened the scoring, in the farewell of the center, also after two years in Paris. Before the video arbitration had frustrated an initial goal of Clermont. Mbappé also showed a shirt of the Sevillian goalkeeper when celebrating the penalty to Achraf that was worth the second local goal midway through the first half. He discounted almost immediately Clermont, a daring team that even missed a penalty before halftime, equalized in the last action before the break and scored the winning goal almost half an hour from the end.
Merci au @ClermontFoot pour son message de soutien à Sergio Rico. ❤️💙 #PSGCF63 #ÁnimoSergioRico pic.twitter.com/xa2eTc5VAw
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) June 3, 2023
That time was spent by the PSG with an innocuous domain in which he tried to look for Messi to close his time in Paris with a goal, a mess that aroused the widespread indifference of the stands and successive errors of the Argentine, who is now looking for work. As if not to find it with his curriculum: he has won 12 Leagues (ten in Spain and two in France), 9 Super Cups (eight with Barcelona and one with PSG), 7 Copas del Rey, 4 Champions Leagues, 3 Club World Cups, 3 European Super Cups, an absolute World Cup and another under-20, a Copa America and has hung the gold medal in the Olympic Games. But he leaves Paris through a side door.
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