Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi has criticised Lionel Messi for lacking “respect” for the French club following his departure in June 2023.
The Argentina captain said in September that he resents that PSG did not honour him after his World Cup heroics.
“He’s not a bad guy but I don’t like it,” Al-Khelaifi told RMC Sport. “I’ll say, not just for him but for everyone, we talk when we’re there, not when we’re gone. That’s not our style… I have great respect for him [Messi] but if someone wants to speak badly about Paris Saint-Germain afterwards, that’s not good. That’s not respectful.”
Messi scored twice in the final in Qatar and also converted a penalty in the shootout as Argentina won 4-2 on penalties against France at the 2022 World Cup.
“If anyone talks about the fact that we didn’t celebrate him enough after he won the World Cup, we’re in France and he won against France and PSG star, Kylian Mbappé,” Al-Khelaifi said.
“We are a French club. I don’t want the whole stadium to be against him either.”
Al-Khelaifi admitted that Messi found it difficult to adapt to Paris after leaving Barcelona in the summer of 2021.
“I’m going to say one thing about Messi, the best player in the world and the best player in history,” Al-Khelaifi said. “It was not easy for him to come here… After Barcelona. There [in Barcelona], everything was for Messi: the players, the coaches, and the management. He comes here and it’s not the same thing, we also have other players, we have Kylian and also Neymar.”
