The Argentine superstar has reaffirmed his commitment to helping Paris Saint-Germain win the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
Although PSG has been funded by Qatar for more than ten years, making them one of the wealthiest clubs on the continent, European glory has remained elusive for the club.
The team has won eight Ligue 1 championships at that time thanks to its superior financial position, but they haven’t been successful in the European competition.
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Les Parisiens made it all the way to the 2020 competition final but were defeated by Bayern Munich in the championship game.
In an apparent jab at Real Madrid, Lionel Messi reaffirmed his desire for Paris Saint-Germain to win the Champions League this year while emphasizing how the championship “is not always won by the strongest team.”
The Argentine has won Europe’s top club competition three times, but he hasn’t done it since 2015, the last time he took part in a championship game.
Though the French giants ultimately lost to Carlo Ancelotti’s team, the Champions League match between Los Blancos and Paris Saint-Germain last season was undoubtedly not his favorite.
It wasn’t simply the loss; it was also how it was handled. Real Madrid managed to launch a late comeback in the second leg despite PSG having controlled for the duration of the match.
Los Blancos were underdogs in each of their four matches during the competition’s knockout rounds, but they miraculously defeated Messi’s PSG in the Round of 16 (after the Argentine had a penalty saved by Thibaut Courtois in the first leg), then defeated the defending champions Chelsea in the quarterfinals, Premier League champions Manchester City in the semifinals, and Liverpool in the championship match.
Real Madrid won game after game, pulling the rabbit out of the hat whenever their backs were against the wall, despite the fact that most people would argue that they were the second-best team in all of their matches during the knockout stage of the Champions League last season.
Although Les Parisiens frequently advance to the tournament’s knockout stages, they consistently underperform under pressure, as evidenced by their collapse in the closing minutes of their loss to Real Madrid last season.
Messi recently provided the following explanation on the Mexican TV channel TUDN: “Last year was difficult for me, it was hard after a very big change (joining from Barcelona), after being in the same place for so long. The aim [for this season] is clear to everyone.”
“PSG have been eager for a long time to win the Champions League. The elimination last season was very hard because of how it happened because we played two great games against Real Madrid and the tie was lost in small details.”
The Argentine makes a significant claim regarding the PSG vs. Real Madrid game from the previous campaign.
“Yes, one could argue that PSG were the ‘better’ team against Real Madrid when the two teams met in the Champions League last season.”
Lionel Messi proceeded by saying that the best team was not necessarily the one that won the competition: “This is not a typical year, because the World Cup is in between the games, but the main objective of PSG, like every year, is to be able to compete for the Champions League.
“It is a very difficult competition to win because it is not always won by the best team, it is always decided by small details, any mistake leaves you out of a tie, but we are preparing ourselves for when those hard moments come, to be up to the task.”
Also read: https://townflex.com/england-relegated-from-nations-league-after-1-0-defeat-to-italy/
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