Messi intimidates in Paris

Messi it will not be these days cover page from the French media for a presumed future at Paris Saint Germain. Messi will be the old european enemy of the Parisians, the one who came back injured and like the Cid play off of the 2012-13 season, when it was necessary to resort to him despite his muscular problems and Pedro's draw came. Or the one who went crazy up on the fence in the comeback from 6-1. That image hammered the Paris Saint Germain fans for months.

Messi, in short, arrives flying to the Champions restart. He has scored 8 goals in the last five league games. The physical discomfort that prevented him from playing the Spanish Super Cup to the fullest (he did not play the semifinal and did so touched in the final, with the consequence of being sent off) they have disappeared. And since that pre-Christmas game in Valladolid, when his connection with Pedri, you see a Messi that grows to the level of the team. Because the Barça also goes upwards. Has been two accidents. The one of the Spanish Super Cup against him Athletic and that of Seville in the first leg of the Cup semifinals. Two serious accidents, because one has already cost a title and the other can do it if there is no comeback against Lopetegui's men.

But it is a team that has started to convert again win in normality. Koeman's Barça carries seven wins consecutive in the League and nine wins and two draws in the last eleven games. The Barça has marked 26 goals in the last twelve games and, in addition, Messi, players like Pedri, Griezmann, De Jong or Dembélé they have offered a version that has fed hopes in Barcelona and has filled PSG with uncertainty.

“He's very into it, I look happy“acknowledged Koeman after the game against Alavés. Messi was seen as at school recess. Playing with superiority and sufficiency, recognizing what was needed at each moment of the game and who surrounds him. From the outside, the relationship between coach and player It seems consolidated. And whenever Messi has believed in a coach, things have ended well. It is another Messi, of course. He heads towards the 34 years. But he is also the same Messi as always, the one who decides games when he wants and who, if he had been fine at Sánchez Pizjuán, would have Barça in a completely unexpected position a couple of months ago.

“If we want eliminate PSG, we need messi at best moment“Koeman insisted at the end of the game against Alavés. And it seems that, if he says it, it is because he is.