Lionel Messi had a challenging first season with Paris Saint-Germain. The 34-year-old detailed the issues he faced adapting to the capital club after his abrupt departure from FC Barcelona.
Furthermore, he was also partaking in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers during the international break for Argentina; as a result, there were plenty of hurdles in those first few months of the season.
However, when 2021 turned into 2022, Messi was ready to focus solely on PSG and put the adaptation and World Cup qualifying fixtures behind him. Then he tested positive for COVID-19, and in his interview with TyC Sports, Messi detailed how much the virus affected him.
“The truth is that he hit me very hard. Symptoms very similar to those of the majority, I suppose. A lot of coughs, sore throat, fever. But it left me with sequelae. It left me with many sequelae in the lungs. I couldn’t train. I came back, and I was like a month and a half without being able to even run because it had affected my lungs,” Messi said
“I wasn’t scared, but hey, they tell you so many things that they wouldn’t let me start. I even started earlier than I should have started, and that was worse. For accelerated later, it ended up hurting me, but I couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted to go out for a run, to train, and he wanted to start. And in the end, it was worse. Later, when I was halfway there, the Real Madrid thing happened, and that killed us.”
MESSI Y EL COVID: "La verdad es que me pegó muy fuerte. Síntomas muy parecidos a los de la mayoría supongo. Mucha tos, dolor de garganta, fiebre. Pero me dejó secuelas. Me dejó muchas secuelas en los pulmones. No podía entrenar". #MessiEnTyCSports. pic.twitter.com/nC1xzYo8mk
— TyC Sports (@TyCSports) May 30, 2022
