Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi is facing plenty of criticism following the capital club’s latest humiliation in the UEFA Champions League after coughing up a 2-0 lead, giving up a hat-trick to Karim Benzema in 17 minutes, losing 3-2 on aggregate.
For some pundits, the 34-year-old didn’t do enough against Real Madrid. In France, RMC Sport pundit Jérôme Rothen is one of the loudest to be critical of Messi. However, these types of remarks sound outside of the French borders too.
During a segment on talkSPORT, pundit Darren Bent believes Messi doesn’t want to be at PSG, comparing him to a player struggling with the same issues at Manchester United.
“One or two nice touches, but I was expecting so much more from [Messi],” Bent said on talkSPORT’s Drivetime. “What I will say about Messi is that he looks like Marcus Rashford at Man United. Rashford looks miserable at United, and Messi just looks like, ‘I don’t want to be here.’”
“Maybe the smile on his face would come back [if he returned to Barcelona]. I don’t think we’ll see the Messi we saw that was head and shoulders above everybody. But he just doesn’t look like he fits in at PSG. I bet he’s probably thinking, ‘I wish I was back at Barca’. He didn’t want to leave in the first place.”
Messi has another year on his contract, but Les Parisiens are undergoing an evaluation as sporting director Leonardo and manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Whatever happens with those two could affect the Argentine’s future if the French giants decide to move on from him to get out of the last year of the deal.
