French Ligue 1 confirmed Lionel Messi as the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T.) after making his debut for Paris Saint Germain on Sunday night, August 29, 2021.
The league football governing body confirmed the 34-year-old Argentine football icon the GOAT less than three weeks after he left Spanish La Liga giants FC Barcelona to join the French side.
When Messi was playing in Spain especially after his career rival, Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus in 2018, La Liga often tweets about Messi being the Goat in football.
After barely 20 minutes of competitive football in French Ligue 1, the league football governing body decided to tweet a picture of Messi in action against Reims with an emoji of a goat. The emoji signified that Messi is better than every other footballer including Ronaldo.
— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) August 29, 2021
Long before Lionel Messi ever dreamt of leaving Barcelona where he spent the last 20 years of his career for PSG, there has been an age-long argument over who is greater between him and Ronaldo.
Whenever this argument comes up, the fans of Messi are always quick to mention that the Argentine footballer has won a record 6 Ballon d’Or while Ronaldo has won 5.
On the other hand, one of the points Ronaldo fans always use to counter the fans of Messi was the fact that Messi is a one-club man, unlike Ronaldo that has been successful in three major leagues – Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A.
Hence, Messi’s switch from FC Barcelona to PSG is seen as an opportunity for him to prove that he can also be successful outside FC Barcelona.
Messi started his journey of proving that he is not a one-club man on Sunday away at Reims. Unfortunately for the millions of football fans that have been waiting for him to make his debut for PSG, the Argentine footballer started from the bench.
PSG’s coach Mauricio Pochettino replaced Neymar with Messi in the 66th minute to the delight of the over 20 thousand spectators that came to the stadium to watch Messi play.
From the beginning of the second half when Messi stepped out to warm up, the spectators could not stop to applaud him. The applauds for him became louder when he finally stepped to the pitch.
Messi felt so much at home that almost every contact he made with the ball was greeted by applause from the spectators.
Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to do much because before he was introduced into the game, Kylian Mbappe had already scored two goals. The game ended 2-0 in favor of PSG.
“He [Messi] is still far away from his best form but he has been training well and he will be fit in the next two weeks,” coach Pochettino told Amazon.
“We are waiting for the best from him. I’m very happy that he made his debut. It was very important for him.
“He was good, from the first touches he gave the team peace of mind. It’s good for him to start with a win.
“It was good to hear the crowd cheering for him, not just our supporters, it’s something Leo has earned…
“He brings serenity to the team. His energy and his optimism trickle down on the rest of the team.”
A new journey begins 💎🔴🔵#SDRPSG pic.twitter.com/92PtadFy2G
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 29, 2021
Fans of PSG and that of Lionel Messi would have to wait until September 12, 2021, to see the record Ballon d’Or winner in action for PSG against Clermont Foot in French Ligue 1.
