Paris Saint-Germain has not had much to go its way since the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
PSG crashed out of the Coupe de France tournament in February, and just one month later, its UEFA Champions League aspirations came to an end after it was eliminated in the round of 16 by Bayern Munich. Overall, PSG has lost a total of nine matches in all competitions in the calendar year.
CBS Sports reporter and PSG Talk columnist Jonathan Johnson recently took some time to speak to Sky Sports News to discuss multiple topics relating to the Ligue 1 powerhouse. For one, he touched on Messi’s form since the World Cup, and he noted that the Argentine forward has failed to mirror his keen form from the first half of the season.
“Really it feels like the World Cup in the middle of the season kind of killed PSG’s campaign because Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe all struggled to get back to the same sort of collective form,” Johnson said. “Obviously Neymar got injured, so his season ended prematurely.
“Messi since he came back from the World Cup hasn’t been the same that we saw at the beginning of the season.”
Messi has played in 18 matches in all competitions for PSG since returning from featuring for the Argentina national team at the World Cup. He tallied 13 goal contributions in these contests, including four goal contributions in his last four appearances for PSG.
Messi will be away from PSG for the time being, as he was reportedly handed a two-week suspension by the club for taking an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia.