PSG’s Lionel Messi would not have been surprised after getting booed by his Paris Saint-Germain fans.
Historically, the people of Paris have always been difficult to please and will always be demanding and difficult. Earlier, it happened with Neymar and other PSG greats of the past. Including the likes of Rai, George Weah, and Ronaldinho.
The cause of the discontent between some fans and the 35-year-old genius comes from his performances since the turn of the year. After a very good first half of the season, Messi’s form has dropped dramatically since his World Cup-winning campaign with Argentina. From a goal every 138 minutes and an assist every 118 minutes in all competitions pre-Qatar, Messi is now down to a goal every 210 minutes and an assist every 420 minutes in all competitions. It is not the same Messi, and even if he still creates some chances, his impact on matches has been significantly less.
On the field, PSG are a shambles. They have lost three of their last four games, six of their last 10 games, and eight of their last 18 games — all in 2023. These numbers are unprecedented since the Qataris took over as owners in the summer of 2011. The past three months have been a nightmare for manager Christophe Galtier, whose position is under extreme pressure, and another bad result at Nice this weekend, or at home against Lens in 10 days’ time, will almost certainly lead to his dismissal.
The past few weeks have aged Galtier massively. He is tired, lost, and he doesn’t seem to have a solution to steady the ship. Despite having the best squad in Ligue 1 and a six-point cushion at the top of the table ahead of Lens and Marseille, it is very possible that PSG will not end up winning the league. They are definitely not the best team in France right now — a minimum expectation for most PSG fans — and the responsibility for that mostly lays at the feet of Galtier. This is a team with no cohesion, no connection between players, no patterns of play, no movement, and no desire. They will still win games because they have the individual talent to make a difference, but that’s it. If you look at Lens, Marseille, or Reims, just to name three, the contrast with PSG is dramatic.
Galtier is not solely responsible for the failures; the players, especially the leaders in the dressing room (and especially Messi), have to take some of the blame, too. They are all underperforming, and it looks like some of them have lost their desire to play.
Right now, the decisions over whether the star trio of Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe all stay next season or whether Galtier gets another year to prove himself, are moot. The focus has to be on turning things around. Something has to change on the pitch, and the next few weeks will be the most important in the club’s recent history. Otherwise, the boos will continue to ring around the Parc des Princes.