Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi has already begun to show flashes of being comfortable with the capital club this month. Most significantly, the sizzle in his chemistry with Kylian Mbappé is noticeably already kicking off well.
With the calendar turning another year to 2022, the Parisian giants will require La Pulga to be firing on all cylinders ahead of their UEFA Champions League match-up against Real Madrid. Suffice it to say that the 34-year-old will be playing at a stadium he’s totally familiar with and a venue wherein he had instilled both fear and bewilderment into both his rivals and their fans with his breathtaking performances.
Heading into the next year, Gervais Martel, the former president of RC Lens, spoke on L’Equipe du Soir (via Canal Supporters) with the pundit stating that the PSG squad needs to adapt to the way Messi plays. Martel was very clear in adding that the Argentine wizard’s arriving late in the summer played a part in his relative slow start, but he sees a string of matches that give him confidence in the adaptation process and transition.
“I think that PSG must adapt to Messi. Mbappé and the others are players who play around him and who know how to give intelligent balls. And besides, have seen it in the game of PSG for some time, there is cronyism between Mbappé and Messi,” Martel said.
“You (the chroniclers) forget one thing is that Messi arrived on August 10. He had a total lack of preparation. Today he has a series of matches and is gaining momentum, and I am convinced that we will have a great Messi who I hope will win Paris. They can win the Champions League thanks to him, and so it has to be orchestrated around him whether we like it or not.”
The whole football world knows PSG brought Messi to the capital club to help them win the Champions League. For the Argentine and former Barcelona maestro, the way the 34-year-old performs in the second half of the campaign is more important than the slow start he was compelled to endure in kicking off his stint with the French giants.
The GOAT always finds his own pace.