Following a challenging debut campaign at Paris Saint-Germain in 2021/22, Lionel Messi has been back to something like his former best season.
Even at the age of 35, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has managed 15 goals and 14 assists in 25 games in all competitions. He took that form to the World Cup with Argentina in November and December, finally getting his hands on the only trophy missing from his collection.
Messi was afforded some rest after the tournament, returning home to Argentina for the Christmas period and flying back to France in early January – he sat out Ligue 1 games against Strasbourg and Lens as a result. But the former Barcelona star has been nursing a hamstring injury in recent days that forced him to miss the weekend defeat to Monaco and puts a question mark over his potential involvement in a crunch Champions League last 16 clash with Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
Having scored in back-to-back Ligue 1 games against Montpellier and Toulouse, Messi felt discomfort in his hamstring following 90 minutes in the Coupe de France defeat to Marseille earlier this month. That then ruled him out of facing Monaco.
Despite not being able to select Messi against Monaco, PSG coach Christophe Galtier seemed fairly confident over the weekend that his star man’s injury was only a minor problem. However, there are still doubts and a final decision to make.
“Leo felt discomfort at the end of the game in Marseille. He should resume training [on Sunday] or even Monday. We will take stock at that time,” the boss said on Saturday.
“He has just completed training the day before the match, his return after the session was good. We will wait tomorrow morning for his feelings. I will make the wisest decision. He will not be on the bench to make up the numbers,” Galtier added on Monday.
Messi did indeed return to training on Monday, with Galtier also naming the player in his matchday selection for the Bayern game. That significantly raises the possibility of Messi being involved in at least some capacity against the German giants.
Messi hasn’t actually faced Bayern since captaining Barcelona in thier humiliating 8-2 Champions League quarter-final defeat in the summer of 2020.
