Paris Saint-Germain was eliminated in the Champions League once again. After welcoming Messi to join, it stopped in the top 16 for two consecutive years. Foreign media TA mentioned that Messi needed the ball to help the team, and Paris might not need a player like Messi.
Messi needs the ball.
Messi, who is 35 years old, is difficult to help the team without the ball. In Paris Saint-Germain, Messi holds the ball too far from the goal, which was encountered by the late Barcelona era and the Argentine national team.
In the Champions League game against Bayern, Virathit’s situation is not very good. Messi hopes to organize the attack better, and the coach also asks Vitinia to help Messi. When Messi is in a high position, Vitinia stays in the backcourt. If Messi retreats to the middle backcourt, Vitinia will suddenly attack the opponent, but unfortunately, Vitinia has no way to be the one who destroys the opponent’s defense.
It’s not just Messi who needs the ball in the front court trident of Paris Saint-Germain, but also two other excellent players, Neymar and Mbappé. Although Mbappé’s explosive force in the moment of counterattack is another threat when he doesn’t have the ball, maybe a team can only have one such player, not two or even three.
Does Paris Saint-Germain really need Messi’s attack?
In fact, Messi has done a good job on the offensive side. In 14 Champions League games on behalf of Paris Saint-Germain, he scored 13 goals and assists, which is very efficient. But for Paris Saint-Germain, they don’t lack goals and assists, but need on-court activity and good skills and tactics, so even if Messi performs well, there is still no way to build a successful team.
In fact, before Messi came to Paris Saint-Germain, this team was once very close to the championship. In the shrinking season of 2019-20, they lost to Bayern in the final, and in the 2020-21 season, they played in the semi-finals, only losing to Manchester City. In these two seasons, Messi stopped at the top 16 after joining, which did not meet expectations in terms of results. Of course, Messi also had his personal commercial value.