French Ligue 1
From hero to villain: Boos greeting for Lionel Messi in farewell to PSG
Lionel Messi didn’t care about the boos in his final game for Paris Saint-Germain as the French league champion lost to Clermont 3-2
Disrespectful PSG supporters booed Messi when the Parc des Princes announcer read his name on a warm evening. A few minutes later, Messi walked onto the field with a smile on his face, holding his three children’s hands before the team photo and kissing them on their foreheads before kickoff.
“I would like to thank the club, the city of Paris and its people for these two years. I wish you all the best for the future,” Messi told the club website.
In two seasons at PSG, Messi won two French leagues and the French Champions Trophy and notched 32 goals and 35 assists in all competitions.
Messi scored in a 1-1 draw at Strasbourg a week ago to help PSG clinch a record-extending 11th French league title. By notching a 496th career league goal, the Argentine genius also broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring record for Europe’s top five leagues.
The World Cup winner didn’t sign the contract extension that Qatar-backed PSG offered him and has been strongly linked with a move to a Saudi club where he could earn more money than Ronaldo. Inter Miami is another possible option but wouldn’t be able to match the Saudi offer of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Messi tried hard to get on the scoresheet on the final day of the French league. He had a shot parried by Clermont goalkeeper Mory Diaw in the 14th minute, hit a snapshot wide in the 31st and curled a free kick over the bar in the 42nd.
A selfless Kylian Mbappe made a solo run in the 54th to tee up Messi, who blazed over the bar. Messi nearly found the net in the 59th but Diaw turned his low drive around the post. Diaw denied Messi again in stoppage time, palming away a free kick.
After the final whistle, Messi hugged his teammates and shook hands with the Clermont players.
PSG took a 2-0 lead with a header from the departing Sergio Ramos in the 16th and a penalty from Mbappe in the 21st.
But Clermont leveled before halftime with goals by Johan Gatien and Mehdi Zeffane.
Grejohn Kyei scored the winner by converting a cross in the 63rd.
Despite his aging legs, Messi has produced moments of magic this season; an overhead kick against Clermont last August, a ball over the top for Mbappe to score against Lille in August that was the joint-fastest goal in the league, a free kick in stoppage time to beat Lille in February, and a perfectly timed throughball for Mbappe against Brest in March.
There were hopes Messi would stay another year in Paris after expressing his happiness at the club in March.
“Yes, it’s true that I feel very well,” Messi told the club website. “The first year, I needed a little time to adapt to Paris for different reasons, but I started this season really differently, with a lot of desire. I feel more comfortable with the club, with the city, with everything that Paris means. And the truth is that I am really enjoying this season.”
But the mood changed after PSG’s exit in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Messi was expected to be the missing piece of the puzzle for the club in the quest for a first Champions League trophy. But PSG lacked the structure and balance of the Argentina team where Julian Alvarez up front and Rodrigo De Paul on the right wing did the dirty work for Messi.
PSG fans have jeered Messi in the past couple of months as his form dipped after he helped Argentina win the World Cup.
Then relations with the club deteriorated last month when Messi was suspended by PSG after an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia. Messi has a commercial contract with Saudi Arabia to promote tourism in that country.
Despite the embarrassment for Qatar, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi seemed to show no hard feelings on Saturday.
“His contribution to Paris Saint-Germain and Ligue 1 cannot be understated and we wish Leo and his family all the best for the future,” Al-Khelaifi told the club website.
-AP
Jean-Louis Gasset who was sacked by Cote d’Ivoire after the group stage of the Africa Cup of Nations last January has announced his retirement as a coach of Olympique de Marseille.
He will take charge of his last game on Sunday before retiring from management, the 70-year-old said on Friday.
Gasset was appointed as interim manager by the Ligue 1 club in February after the sacking of Gennaro Gattuso, and Marseille are eight in the standings going into their final Ligue 1 game of the season at Le Havre.
“Sunday will be the last match of my career,” Gasset told a press conference.
“That I stay in football, that my experience, my ideas and my networks are used is a possibility. I don’t know how to garden, I won’t have anything to do. But as a coach, it’s over.”
The Frenchman’s previous job was with Ivory Coast from which he was sacked after the team’s poor performances in the Africa Cup of Nations group stage. They scraped through as the last lucky losers before going on to win the tournament on home soil.
-Reuters
Kylian Mbappe has backed winger Ousmane Dembele to be a success at Paris St Germain and fill his boots after he exits the club, as he won his fifth successive Ligue 1 Player of the Year award.
France captain Mbappe, 25, last week announced that he will leave the French champions at the end of the season after a seven-year stay, during which he became their all-time top scorer with 256 goals.
Mbappe’s frustration lies with PSG’s performances in the Champions League, a trophy they have never lifted despite huge investment in the squad. He has been heavily linked with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid, who are in the final this year seeking a 15th European crown.
His 26-year-old compatriot Dembele joined the Parisian club, who have won 10 of the last 12 Ligue 1 titles, from LaLiga side Barcelona in August last year, signing a five-year deal.
“I have shared and played with incredible players, like Dembele who is here, he is a friend and one day he will pick up this award,” Mbappe said on Monday at the award ceremony.
“I thank the club as a whole, the coach, who has helped me and trusted me, his staff, the doctors, all the people at the club, the sporting management, the president, the shareholders of the club, of course, the Emir of Qatar who came to find me at the age of 18, who has accompanied me in all my decisions…”
He said his next chapter is going to be very exciting but did not reveal any further details.
“Now I’m turning the page in my life. Everything that comes next is super exciting, but that’s another subject,” Mbappe said.
“Thank you all, I’m going to miss you. I have always tried to do my best, and I also want to thank my family, who have always been with me in good times and bad.
“My father, who is here, I know that it was very important to him that I made history in Ligue 1 before I left and I think that with humility I have done everything you wanted.”
-Reuters
France captain Kylian Mbappe has informed Paris St Germain that he is leaving the club in July as a free agent seven years after joining them, The Athletic website reported on Thursday.
Mbappe, a member of France’s 2018 World Cup-winning team, signed for PSG from Monaco in 2017 for 180 million euros ($194 million) to become the second most expensive player ever after Brazilian Neymar, who joined the French champions the same year for 222 million euros.
“Mbappe has communicated his decision to PSG but the terms of his exit are yet to be fully agreed. An official announcement is expected once the situation is finalised in the next few months,” the report said.
The 25-year-old striker, who helped the capital club win five Ligue 1 titles and three French Cups, is PSG’s all-time leading scorer with 243 goals in 290 appearances.
PSG have not responded to a request for comment.
Mbappe last year sent a letter to PSG stating that he would not take up the option to extend his contract by a year when it expires in June.
He has long been linked with Real Madrid, reportedly rejecting a 200 million euro ($215.36 million) offer in 2021. He was again set for a move to the LaLiga side in 2022 before announcing a contract extension with PSG before the transfer window opened.
PSG, who lead the Ligue 1 standings by 11 points, host Nice on Friday.
-Reuters
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