Lionel Messi moved from FC Barcelona to the French capital club in 2021.
Image: AFP
Lionel Messi does not have any airs and graces privately and gets along better in Paris. But the world champion keeps his distance from the fans. This is how a chapter of his fantastic career could now end.
NAfter a good year, Lionel Messi finally seems to have arrived in Paris. His adjustment to the French capital after 21 years in Barcelona, where he was adored, was more than bumpy. After four months in the luxury hotel “Royal Monceau”, a few meters from the Champs-Elysées, the Argentine moved into a house with his family in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in the west of Paris. Local residents report a “completely normal neighbor who shows no affectation and sometimes shows himself behind the wheel of his car without trying to hide.”
One of his neighbors: France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy, a die-hard PSG supporter. Two guards stand by Messi’s house 24/7 to ensure his safety. The Messis are renting: a sign that you don’t necessarily want to stay in Paris permanently?