Messi, Ramos end PSG careers in home defeat
Paris: Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos bid farewell to Parc des Princes as Paris Saint-Germain wasted a two-goal lead to suffer a 3-2 defeat to Clermont in the final Ligue 1 match of the season on Saturday night.
“After two seasons in the capital, Leo Messi’s adventure with Paris Saint-Germain will come to a conclusion at the end of the 2022-2023 season,” the club said in a statement after the match, while Ramos’ departure was confirmed on Friday.
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.
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.
