RMC Sport take Messi potshot: “He had half a good season ahead of the World Cup”
The French media lashed out at Messi after PSG’s loss to Rennes. RMC Sport were the most outspoken in their criticism of the Argentine star.
PSG are still wondering where things went wrong after the weekend’s defeat to Rennes. L’Equipe heavily criticised Neymar and described the footballer’s performance as “worrying” with the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 set to take place in a month where the French side will face Bayern Munich.
However, ‘RMC Sport’ were even more vocal in their criticism singling out world champion Lionel Messi and insinuated that he only played well for first half a season due to the fact that the Qatar 2022 World Cup was taking place in November and even went as far as to suggest that the ‘Albiceleste’ star no longer trains in the same way he did before the Qatar event.
L’Equipe and Le Parisien pull no punches
In their analysis of the defeat away to Rennes, celebrated French sports outlet L’Equipe claimed that that Messi did not measure up on the night to the level that is expected giving the Argentine a 4/10 match rating.
Finally, ‘Le Parisien’ stated that “Messi’s influence was limited”, in addition to acknowledging that the striker was culpable of some inaccurate passes that are not part of the traditional repertoire and also suggested that the player is not the same as the one who departed for the Gulf in November.