Olympique de Marseille will be welcoming Paris Saint-Germain to the Stade Vélodrome for the latest installment of Le Classique. This matchup will be the first for Lionel Messi in this rivalry, where he’ll face his former manager Jorge Sampaoli.
Ahead of the matchup, Sampaoli spoke with the media at his press conference. The Argentine tactician discussed the relationship with Messi after he coached him during the 2018 FIFA World Cup but stated that his time with the 34-year-old didn’t have a happy result for the Argentina national team.
“The memories I keep of Messi are seeing him train, play on the pitch. Unfortunately, I did not live in a favorable context to be able to benefit a lot from it, but I never changed my mind about it. He has a great career at the top,” Sampaoli said.
“He is an eternal player, thanks to his professionalism and his involvement. It will be a pleasure to see him again on the pitch, even if it’s very complicated because he can hurt us a lot at any time (…) I haven’t spoken to him since I had him in the national team.”
