Former Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) star Lionel Messi made a claim that he was the only Argentine player who wasn’t recognized by his club after Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar last year.
Argentina beat France in a seven-goal thriller in the mega event’s final to clinch their third World Cup and their first since 1986.
Two PSG stars, Messi and Kylian Mbappe starred in the final and shared five goals between them. The 24-year-old scored a hat-trick in the final while the Argentine contributed to a brace.
Talking to an interview with Migue Granados on OLGA, Messi, 36, admitted that he wasn’t happy at the French capital and was genuinely disappointed with the way he was treated at PSG.
“It was understandable,” he said. 'We were in a situation where we [Argentina] were world champions and it was our fault that they [France] weren’t champions once again.”
“I was the only player that wasn’t recognized by his club compared to the other 25 Argentinian players,” he continued.
Messi’s claims did not go unnoticed by PSG’s president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who decided to reply to the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s comments.
“As everyone saw, because we even published a video, we celebrated Messi in training, and we also celebrated him in private,” Nasser was quoted as saying by Football Espana.
“But with respect, we are a French club. It was of course sensitive to celebrate at the stadium. We must respect the country he defeated, his teammates on the France team, and our supporters too.”
Messi netted a total of 32 goals in 75 matches for the French Club and clinched the league twice.
Although, the former Barcelona star failed to perform in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) as PSG were handed back-to-back Round of 16 defeats, by Real Madrid in 2021-22 and then by Bayern Munich in 2022-23.
Messi left PSG in July to complete his move to the Major League Soccer (MLS) club Inter Miami.
