Lionel Messi’s suspension is over at Paris Saint-Germain, and no one is happier than the club itself.
PSG manager Christophe Galtier told reporters that Messi “will be a starter” for Saturday’s home match against Ajaccio. “I spoke with him on Tuesday to see what his mindset was and I found him very determined to play.”
Messi’s return comes a week early after he was initially suspended two weeks for an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia, where he’s a paid spokesman for the country’s tourism board. Messi apologized, maintaining that he was under the impression the team had off, but in the meantime PSG defeated Troyes 3-1 without the Argentina star.
Despite notching a win without Messi — who seems all but certain to leave the club this summer — PSG is not quite over the line in terms of winning Ligue 1. Recent home losses to Lyon and Lorient have kept the door ever-so-slightly open for Lens, who trail the defending champions by six points with four matches still to play.
“He’s very eager to win that title,” Galtier said of Messi. “With him in the team, we’ll have to adjust compared to what we did against Troyes. Leo is Leo. I’m not going to go into statistics but when he’s with us, we have to strike a different balance.”
The latest in a strange season for Messi
Messi returning to the PSG starting 11 is not all that much of a surprise, given that he is Messi. However, the fact that Galtier felt compelled to announce it speaks to the strangeness at PSG in general, and in Messi’s life since finally winning his first World Cup last year.
Despite PSG being poised to win the league while carrying a long list of injured players, Messi was jeered at the Parc des Princes after that aforementioned loss to Lyon, and just a couple weeks later, fans called for him to leave the club outside PSG’s headquarters.
Meanwhile, the news outside of France seems only marginally better. On one hand, MLS and Barcelona are openly courting him, the Saudi Arabian offers to bring him there could end up being the most lucrative in sports history, and the adulation he receives in Argentina is at an all-time high…save for gunmen shooting up a grocery store owned by his relatives and leaving a threatening note specifically naming him.
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