The champion at PSG, the Camp Nou is behind us. “It’s hard to change, now I’m happy”
/ SENT TO PARIS
This time she didn’t cry. But not even laughed, despite the 35 million a year salary. Lionel Messi isn’t exactly a speaker, at least when he doesn’t get his golden feet talking. And so his presentation press conference as a new acquisition of Paris Saint-Germain, which is also the first presentation conference of his professional life, given that so far he spent it all at Barcelona, slips calm and a bit boring on the Big Banal, while fans go crazy outside the Parco dei Principi and sports Paris, already euphoric for the upcoming Olympics, forgets Covid. The contrast between the enthusiastic supporting actors and the highly controlled star is striking. In an orgy of superlatives, PSG TV follows him at all times, a kind of everything Messi minute by minute, he who enters the stadium, he who shakes hands with the Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, he who climbs the stairs , he who gets off, all always together with his wife, the father manager and the three children, who are put forward with the work and already showing off the PSG t-shirts.
In front of the stadium, hundreds of fans sing for hours stacked and unmasked in front of the gates, the most rowdy even hoisted on road signs. Meanwhile, in front of the Psg boutique on the Champs-Elysées there are at least two hundred meters of queue to buy the new idol’s jersey, the one with the number 30 (which would be the goalkeeper, but the Federation has granted an exemption), also because on the site of the club is already «en rupture de stock», in short, sold out. Inside, Messiah Messi, in a low voice, always strictly in Spanish (for now not even a bonjour) rattles off the expected obvious: of course he is very happy to be here, he can’t wait to start training with his new companions, who after all in part he already knows and is here in Paris, think a little, to win, starting with the Champions League. Of course, changing clubs, and what a club, the one that took care of and pampered and adored him since he was a frail and frail little boy, “was hard”, but the shock was easier to overcome because “everything was done in a short time “. In short, when he decided to leave Barça for the well-known reasons, the Parisian sporting director Leonardo (radiant yesterday) was already there with the checkbook ready. And in any case, the fact that La Pulce repeats twice that in Catalonia there have been “years of good and less good experiences” means that all roses and flowers have not been, or perhaps they were no longer. But if he happens to play against his former team, perhaps at the Camp Nou, “with a different shirt, it would be nice but strange”. But in short, Paris is well worth a move.
It is useless to shatter him on the galaxy of stars with which he will share the locker room. With Neymar, whom everyone here abbreviates to Ney, as the bravest and most stupid of Napoleon’s marshals, he says he is “enthusiastic about playing, because we have the same goals”. Ditto with Mbappé, “it’s crazy to be able to share daily life with such great players”, and in any case Al-Khelaifi denies the rumors of sale: “Mbappé said he wanted a competitive team, it’s hard to imagine a more competitive team than this one”. However, the very warm appreciation for Verratti should be noted: «In his role – superLionel swears – he is one of the best in the world. In Barcelona we have been trying to buy it for years. Now the situation has turned around and it is I who came to play with him. He is a phenomenon and a spectacular boy ». And of course the agreement with “Poche”, who would later be the coach Mauricio Pochettino, is already very good, also because “we are both Argentines”.
The message is: we are in great shape. And yet in all this enthusiasm there is perhaps a shadow of a sense of inferiority. For ten years now the PSG has been bought by the sheikhs amid the controversy of those who spoke of the Berlusconization of French football. Transfusions of billions have certainly given results, but perhaps less glowing than one might expect. Ligue 1 does not have the same prestige as other European leagues and the Champions League remains a mirage. For this reason, beyond its merits, the arrival of the most famous footballer in the world is also a psychological turning point. Vincent Labrune, president of the Ligue de football, speaks of a “historic day”. What about financial fair play? Al-Khalafi replies that he has consulted his consultants and that “all the rules have been respected, otherwise we would not have made the deal”.
The fans, who don’t care less about fair play, are already «aux anges». When Messi is finally exposed to the crowd, it is no longer Paris but Piedigrotta: smoke bombs, firecrackers, drums, choirs, screams, jubilation, delirium. Let alone when it starts playing. He greets remotely with his hand like Queen Elizabeth and puts the club scarf on his dark dress, bye-bye Paris (then when he leaves everyone applauds the two stylists on the road signs: for now, the winners are them). –
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