Six months since Football’s saddest separation happened
How have F.C Barcelona and Lionel Messi fared without each other so far?
The inevitable happened last summer. Lionel Messi left F.C Barcelona after 17 years at the club in what still doesn’t seem to be real. The Argentinian talisman sports a deity-like figure in Barcelona, revered and worshiped by the Camp Nou faithful. Unfavorable league regulations and a messy wage structure at the club (pun intended) forced Messi out of getting a new contract at F.C Barcelona, the club that everyone thought he would never leave in his lifetime.
Six months on since that fateful day, how have the club, and Messi himself, dealt with this untimely separation?
Lionel Messi
Messi made the move to Paris Saint-Germain a few days after his final press conference in Barcelona as he tearfully bid goodbye to his beloved club. PSG and Manchester City were the two clubs he was heavily linked with, with him choosing the former. The Paris Saint-Germain team was a star studded team comprised of his long-time friend and former teammate Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappe, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Ramos etc and they played in the Uber Eats Ligue 1, a league that is often deemed inferior to other leagues in Europe in terms of team quality and competitiveness. As such, everyone expected Messi to breeze through the league and contribute plenty considering his caliber of play. However, things didn’t quite turn out to be this way.
Lionel Messi’s first six months at Paris Saint-Germain have been marred by a string of injuries and inconsistencies.
Despite adding a record 7th Ballon D’or and nominations for the FIFA Best to his name, Lionel Messi has yet to find his feet in France. He has only netted twice in 13 league games since he made his Ligue 1 debut on August 29th while also missing 8 games during this period. He’s been heavily involved in creating in most of the games he’s played, contributing 7 assists in that time. He has been lethal in the Champions League group stages, netting 5 times to see his team through to the knockout stages. Messi has had a contribution of 14 G/A in 19 games, which is not bad by any means, but he has set such high standards for himself that these numbers don’t look like they belong to him.
Messi under Mauricio Pochettino has found himself unable to quite click and despite having such big names around him on the pitch, is rarely able to influence games as much as he would like to. Messi often finds himself isolated on the right flank, watching his teammates pass the ball around the back while he would go long periods without even taking a touch. Poch has tried to play Messi in the centre, the right flank as well as behind the striker to make him feel comfortable on the pitch. Messi isn’t able to move around freely on and off the ball like he used to do in Barcelona, though he does drop deep sometimes and likes to come collect the ball. It is no secret that a lot of his teammates in Barcelona used to look for him as soon they used to get the ball, and he would thrive in such conditions. But Poch and PSG play a different type of football and Messi is having a rather tough time adjusting to it.
Messi’s qualities certainly haven’t declined, as he has shown flashes of brilliance in the last six months by hitting the woodwork countless times as well as delivering key passes to his teammates that don’t end up in the back of the net. He might not have the stats to back him up during the last six months, but he certainly has still got it and with a year and a half remaining on his contract, would certainly hope to have a better output in the coming period. He faces his bitter rivals from his time in Barcelona — Real Madrid next in the Champions League and that might just be the match that turns it all around for Messi at his new club.
F.C Barcelona
Things aren’t too bright at Messi’s old club either as in the six months since Messi left, they sacked their coach, got knocked out of Champions League Group Stages for the first time since 2003–04 and will be playing the Europa League, lost to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final, got knocked out of the Copa Del Rey by Athletic Bilbao, have seen their top three most expensive signings revolt against their contract or leave the club on loan, and have barely managed to scrape into the Top 4 in La Liga to secure a Champions League spot for next season. Phew that’s a mouthful.
This is unarguably F.C Barcelona’s toughest year in a long while, and is a period of transition as the club looks to rebuild after Messi’s departure.
A lot of players from Barca’s famed youth academy ‘La Masia’ have made breakthroughs in the first team, while the return of familiar faces in Xavi (as the manager) and Dani Alves (as a player) have certainly given Barca fans some sort of happiness. The club have brought in a few Premier League forwards in the winter market to strengthen their attack, as Adama Traore, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ferran Torres will now roam the front lines where Messi once used to dominate.
F.C Barcelona are certainly missing the lethality and the preciseness that Lionel Messi used to bring on the right flank. There isn’t an out and out playmaker in the team right now like Leo was for all these years, and there isn’t any goalscorer like him too. Barcelona’s top scorer this season is Memphis Depay with 8 goals in the league, but there has been so much uproar regarding the need for clinical finishing in the team. Even without Messi they are able to create decent attacks, but the explosiveness that Lionel Messi’s left foot brought to Barca is certainly being missed. There has been much debate about Barca’s finishing this season, with a lot of crucial chances missed in important moments. If only the ball had come to Messi’s left foot, maybe Barcelona would still be fighting for a trophy by now.
The Last Dance?
Lionel Messi and Football Club Barcelona are a match made in heaven. They thrive off of each other’s energies. With a year and a half remaining on his contract at PSG, the earliest there would be a chance of Lionel Messi coming to Barcelona would be as a free agent in July 2023. Of all the separations and exits that football has seen over the years, nothing is sadder than not having Messi hang up his boots in the Blaugrana colours. Will President Joan Laporta want him back? Will there be wage issues once again? Will there be a starter spot reserved for him because of who he is? We’ll only know 18 months from now.
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