Revenge match? How will PSG players and fans react to Messi at the Club World Cup? | OneFootball

Is Messi's departure drama a factor or distraction?

Two years later, does it matter? Lionel Messi's largely disappointing two-year stay at Paris Saint-Germain ended when the Argentine icon shocked the soccer world by signing with Inter Miami CF and Major League Soccer when he could have earned more money in Saudi Arabia or gone home to Barcelona. And he's never made a secret of his feelings about his time in Ligue 1.

“Those two years (in Paris) were not enjoyable,” Messi told Apple Music in a 2023 interview, according to an article in The Athletic. Messi said it had been "difficult to adapt to the city" and to some PSG supporters' turning against him when he couldn't deliver a Champions League title (which they claimed for the first time this year against Italian giants Inter Milan).

Former Toulouse and Charlotte FC player Brecht Dejaegere in October told the press after an October match that Messi told him his time in Paris was "la mierda" -- crap.

Mano Bouvier, writing for the French-language online site Sprt.fr, reported that Dejaegere, a Belgian midfielder, asked Messi about his time in France after Charlotte and Miami played in October.

“At the final whistle, I asked him if he felt better in Miami than in France,” Dejaegere said, according to an English translation that appeared on Yahoo Sports. “I told him that I had played against him with Toulouse at the Parc des Princes. He didn’t remember me… but it was my childhood dream coming true.

“Messi has always been my favorite player! It was crazy to run into him… And so, that day, he told me that for him, at PSG, it was ‘la mierda.’ Yes, ‘la mierda’ (He bursts out laughing).”

Dejaegere currently plays for Belgian side KV Kortrijk.

Online content creators have spent the week publishing stories about the Great One's time at PSG. Podcasts (Shout out to Battered Herons) have debated whether the Round of 16 match between the 2024 MLS Supporters Shield holders and 2025 UEFA Champions League winners is a revenge match, and whether it's Messi or PSG, or both, who might be seeking revenge.

One of the better-written stories I've seen about the Messi-PSG relationship is from France24.com. It recounts the excitement Messi brought with him to Paris in 2021, and the frustration that mounted as the club lost twice in the Champions League Round of 16, despite its vaunted attack featuring Messi, Nemar Jr., and Killian M'bappe.

French columnist Vincent Duluc, writing in the sports daily L'Equipe and quoted by the France24 article, appeared after Messi made it clear he would not stay in Paris: "PSG have not been better than they were before because of him ... and he seemed to have as much desire to play in Ligue 1 as he did to go to the dentist."