Leo and Antonella weren’t ready for the change last summer. Moving to Paris smeared the joy of the Copa
According to Messi, it was hard for him and his family to change from Barcelona to Paris. Last summer was generally unusual for Leo. “I could not even imagine this. Everything that happened after the Kopa: the joy that I won the trophy that I had been chasing for a long time, I took something from the national team. Before that, the summer was usually sad – with lost finals. Now the joy was complete. “I expected that everything would continue as before … As it was last year with Barcelona. Like all my previous life. Right in the middle of the joy of winning, the whole moving situation happened. I never thought that I would play for any club other than Barcelona. Life changes have been hard.” According to Messi, first of all, the problems were in everyday life. “Surprisingly, the children quickly got used to the new city – unlike Antonella and me. I remember the first day we took them to school. They left and we cried. We didn’t understand what we were doing here, why what happened happened. In Barcelona I had everything. I came there very young – and lived there longer than in Argentina. The truth is, I didn’t want to change anything.” Leo complained about the winter in Paris – it is much colder than in Spain. Therefore, there are so many photos on Messi’s Instagram with children on the carpet and by the fireplace, they were looking for more warmth in each other’s company.
Lionel crippled knee injury and coronavirus
Messi’s game plan was hindered by the fact that he missed the pre-season and arrived at the club late. Then there were problems with the knee, which prevented us from playing 3-4 games in a row. All this has had an effect. Only by winter, Leo felt that he was in shape – and immediately caught the coronavirus. “I really had a hard time getting sick. The symptoms were like everyone else, I think: cough, sore throat, fever. But complications affected the lungs. Because of this, I could not train. Another month and a half after the illness, I could not even run, because my lungs were in poor condition. I rushed the recovery and made it worse.”
Losing to Real Madrid is a big blow. But Madrid was not the strongest team
The biggest blow of the season was the loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League. Messi is very worried, like the whole team. “We had huge ambitions in the Champions League, and given the way that match went, the final result was a blow to us. The defeat against Real Madrid nailed us. With all due respect to Real Madrid – and they are the winners of the Champions League – they were not the best team in this tournament, but they beat everyone. I know Real Madrid very well, having been around all my life. And I understood that something similar could happen in that match – they score a goal from nothing and change the game. This happened to us and all the other teams. So this is not an isolated case.”