Despite losing at home against Rennes, PSG will probably win the title in France. But that’s not enough. The PSG-Messi era is a resounding failure.
PSG is seven points behind second place (Marseille) and there are still a lot of rounds to be played. However, despite the home defeat against Rennes, the Parisians are unlikely to lose the title. Plus, this comes as good news for bettors: from now on every point will weigh more heavily. And PSG won’t lose so easily anymore. For PSG the title in France is just a patch over a deep wound. Nevertheless, it’s better than nothing.
Besides, PSG capsized once again in the Champions League and is consoling itself at home where it doesn’t really have an opponent. Lens, despite an emphatic win over Angers, is still not a team that looks like a champion. Marseille? It’s inconsistent. Monaco? Too far away. That leaves only PSG. And how could they miss out on the title with Messi and Mbappe, the best players of the last World Cup, in the vanguard?
However, and we have to write it clearly, Leo Messi has been a failure in Paris. He won, undeservedly, a Ballon d’Or and some crumbs of domestic titles. What does that mean to his fabulous career (among the best in history and certainly the best in the modern history of the game)? Nothing.
Messi is the best footballer of the 21st century and even if he leaves Paris (and even if he stays), his failure says something important about football in France. Namely, the value of a league can only increase if the value of all the teams is increased. Or that’s not happening in France. PSG is the top of a pyramid under which there is often a gap. French teams are content to be the best nurseries on the continent. But the gap between the top leagues in France and England, for example, has continued to widen in recent years rather than narrow, despite the Qatari investment in Paris.
When you don’t have the tradition backing you
The Messi case confirms this. With one flower, not even two (Mbappe included), spring never comes. Or with a swallow. ”Una hirunda non facit ver”, as the Latins used to say. They knew why they said that.
Mbappe will leave too (or even if he stays), PSG still won’t make it further in Europe, because that’s the level of the French league for now. When it has no domestic opponent, PSG can’t knock out continental forces like Real Madrid, Bayern Munchen or Manchester City. Not even if Haaland (the new fantasy of PSG’s owners) comes along.
Messi will part ways with Paris one day – richer but without having made history at this club, which cannot, despite all the investment, erase the grim reality that it doesn’t have enough history yet.
PSG will most likely continue to be a collection of stars who shine in matches that don’t count, but who can bring some profits to us, the bettors. PSG is a team you can bet from now on, until they will mathematically win the title. With Rennes it was just an exclamation mark, which will make the Parisians seriously alert. You can bet on it.
