Thierry Henry urges Messi to return to Barca
"Messi is probably the best player at PSG right now with 13 goals and 13 assists," Henry told Prime after the game. "I feel embarrassed when I hear the whistling from a group of fans who are crazy about PSG. They can't do that with Messi. Because of football, I want to see him finish his career at Barca."
According to Whoscored statistics, Messi was awarded 7.9 points, the highest in the match even though PSG lost 0-1 to Lyon at Parc des Princes. This is their second consecutive defeat at home, the first time this has happened since 2007. Messi has passed four times, passing to teammates to finish but failed to score. When the audience booed at the end, Messi went straight into the tunnel alone.
Coach Christophe Galtier also defended Messi when he urged fans not to "demand everything" from the Argentine superstar. When the reporter gave the figure that Messi lost the ball 26 times in this match and did not defend, the PSG coach said: "Messi plays the role of an assist, so of course he has to play risky and waste many situations, but there are times when he does well. People can't ask for everything from Messi and Kylian Mbappe, but the players around have to play well Messi nonetheless scored and assisted the most in the team since 2023. The whistles were a bit too much. level".
Galtier added that he is trying to change the PSG attack to help Messi make a greater influence in the team. His contract will expire at the end of June 2023, but the two sides have not reached an agreement to extend. On March 31, Barca vice president Rafa Yuste said that the team had contacted Messi to find a way to bring him back to Barcelona. Coach Xavi Hernandez also said that Camp Nou "opens the door to welcome Messi".
Messi's teammate in Argentina - Nicolas Tagliafico - also played at the Parc des Princes on the evening of April 2. The Lyon left-back was also not pleased to see Messi booed, because he said that "football is a collective sport, not an individual sport". When asked about Messi's future, Tagliafico said: "Messi needs to play where he feels happy."
