from Barça to PSG, historical statistics and careers
MESSI. World champion 2022, Lionel Messi is at the peak of his career. After winning everything at Barça and Argentina, the striker wants to take on one last challenge at PSG.
Did he become the greatest? Everyone is free to assess at what stage Lionel Messi’s development is now, he has now won the last iconic trophy missing from his list: the Football World Cup. However, the Argentinian is at the top of his game, after 18 years of racing. Most of all, he didn’t seem satisfied. After a career almost entirely devoted to FC Barcelona and Argentina, Pulga now gives life to the attack of Paris Saint-Germain, in a powerful attacking trio with Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. At PSG, he tries to face the challenge of winning a fifth Champions League, he whose international career had an apotheosis in Qatar, planted two goals in the final, as well as a penalty during the penalty shootout. Sacred best player of the World Cup and co-best of the competition, it is now in Paris that he seeks to fill his trophy cabinet a little more.
With Barça, a career rich in trophies and goals
Argentinian by birth, Lionel Messi touched his first balls at Grandioli FC, the club where his father trained. Between 1994 and 2000, it was in the formation of Newell’s Old Boys that he continued his training as a footballer and hatched, managing to be seen in Europe. FC Barcelona set their sights on the then 13-year-old player. Year after year, he asserted himself within the Catalan club: Barça junior, Barça C, Barça B… then the great Barça, for whom he started on October 16, 2004 in a derby against Espanyol de Barcelona. A true fairy tale unfolds: 17 seasons with the Blaugranas, 778 games, 672 goals, records and titles galore… Messi has become the idol of the Camp Nou and the world of football, obsessed with his rivalry with another big name of the moment: Cristiano Ronaldo. 10 Spanish championships with Barça, four Champions Leagues, three Club World Cups or seven King’s Cups, the Spanish Cup… the story is idyllic and allowed him to win, in those years, six golden balls, including four consecutively. If he seemed forever linked to Barça, Messi finally had to change his shirt. In the summer of 2021, Barcelona will no longer be able to pay Pulga’s salary. Out with the red and blue of the Catalan club, hello red and blue… of Paris Saint-Germain.
One last challenge to PSG
Lionel Messi joined PSG on Tuesday August 10, 2021. It is a big blow for the Parisian club who will enter a new era with the Argentinian’s arrival. He very quickly found his place in the system of the game and continued the matches, although he was less decisive than at Barça. However, the attacking trio formed with Mbappé and Neymar shakes many defenses. Aiming to return PSG to the Champions League, he could not prevent the capital club from being eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2021-2022 edition against Real Madrid (2-3, score cumulative).
Chaos and glory in Argentina
After Maradona, Argentina inherited another footballing genius in the person of Lionel Messi. But with the choice, the relationship of the Flea is not always good. There were many meetings where the striker did not shine and showed a level of play below his Barça performance. The differences in context between the daily life of the club and the international seasons are often felt, although Messi has always shown a certain excellence. His prowess in front of goal allowed him to stick 98 goals against his opponents, making the selection record. Unsatisfied finalist of the World Cup in 2014 and the Copa America three times, Messi had to wait until 2021 to win with the Albiceleste, during the Copa America, before being crowned world champion in 2022. Also note a coronation at the Olympics of 2008.
What is Lionel Messi’s salary?
Paris Saint-Germain had to pick up the checkbook to lure the planetary star to its ranks. According to Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, author of a biography on the Argentine number 10, Lionel Messi will receive 30 million euros net per year at PSG.
