Lionel Messi has only played for three clubs throughout his entire career: FC Barcelona, PSG and Inter Miami. Seeing as he extended his contract with Inter Miami until 2028 two months ago and just won the MLS Cup on Saturday, he will most likely retire in Miami and will leave an eternal legacy behind at the club.
Out of his three teams, he’s played the least amount of time at PSG, having only spent two seasons in Paris. His stint at the Parisian club was also the most criticised period of his career, having not lived up to the expectations in a lot of people’s eyes.
Today we’ll take a deeper dive into his two seasons at the club and objectively assess if his time there was really a “failure”.
FC Barcelona exit
On the 5th of August 2021, FC Barcelona announced that they would not be renewing Lionel Messi’s contract due to financial obstacles. This came as a shock to the whole world, seeing as both the club and the player had no intentions of parting ways.
Just five days after a heartbreaking departure from his boyhood club, PSG announced the signing of Lionel Messi on the 10th of August 2021. A new era of the Argentine’s career began with what was only his second club ever.
PSG also signed other massive names, such as Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes and Georginio Wijnaldum in what was seen as potentially the best transfer window ever at the time.
First season (2021/22)
Lionel Messi got off to a rough start to his PSG career, picking up a knee injury, hamstring injury and dealing with coronavirus all in the first six months of the season, making him miss a total of seven games. Despite the injuries, he managed to score five goals in five Champions League matches but was only capable of scoring one league goal up until February.
Even though most players do need time to adapt to a new environment, most of his performances were poor, especially by his standards. He didn’t quite seem to reach the level he had performed at during his last season at FC Barcelona. PSG failed to top their group in the Champions League and got knocked out of the Coupe de France in the round of sixteen.
Nevertheless, they were still sitting comfortably at the top of the league and faced Real Madrid in the round of sixteen of the Champions League in February. PSG had made big moves in the Summer to be able to win these matches. In the first leg, the Parisians dominated Real Madrid but only managed to score a last-minute winner. Lionel Messi missed a penalty in the first leg, and all the pressure was on him coming into the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu.
PSG started off well, scoring the opening goal, but ultimately fell apart and ended up getting knocked out 2-3 on aggregate. In their next game, Lionel Messi was booed by PSG fans due to his underwhelming performance throughout the tie against Real Madrid.
He then went on to pick up his form a bit, accumulating seven goal contributions in the last eight games of the season. Despite this, he recorded his lowest goal-scoring season to date with only 11 goals across all competitions. His goal contributions dropped by nearly 50% compared to his 2020/21 season.
PSG were eventually crowned champions of Ligue 1, putting an end to what was probably Lionel Messi’s worst season of his career.
Second & Last season (2022/23)
Coming into his second season with PSG, Lionel Messi seemed fitter and more determined than usual, seeing as the World Cup was taking place in the middle of the season in November and December.
His first game of the season was the French Super Cup final, in which he scored a goal and lifted his second trophy for the club. In the first half of the season, leading up to the World Cup, he was back to his best, scoring 12 goals and providing 14 assists in just 19 games. He also took up a more important role and slowly became one of the leaders in the dressing room.
He then raised his level even more, winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, while scoring seven goals and providing three assists. Lionel Messi was also named the best player of the tournament, becoming the sole player to have ever won the award twice (first time in 2014).
After the World Cup, his form dropped significantly, as he only scored 9 goals and provided 6 assists in the remaining 22 games. His goal contribution ratio dropped from 1.37 contributions per game in the first half to 0.68 contributions per game in the second half of the season.
He also failed to have an impact in the round of sixteen of the Champions League against FC Bayern, as they were knocked out in the same round for the second year in a row, losing 0-3 on aggregate. The Argentine was then booed again by PSG fans in their next home game.
Lionel Messi did pick up another league title at the end of the season, as he said goodbye to Paris after PSG had decided not to extend his contract. Despite his two league titles, it just didn’t feel like enough for one of the greatest players ever, especially seeing as PSG had won seven out of the last nine leagues prior to his arrival.
Conclusion
Taking everything into account, you could say that Messi’s era at PSG was a “failure”, but only because the expectations were so high. PSG put together a superteam, the front-three consisting of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, with the goal of finally winning a Champions League.
On paper, it was some of Lionel Messi’s seasons in which he had the most help, but in reality, he just didn’t quite fit into the team. He wasn’t able to exploit his abilities and, on top of that, his individual level dropped compared to his time in Barcelona.
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