Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Thursday June 13, 2024 at 4:03 p.m.
Lionel Messi announced that he would not return to Paris this summer to play the Olympic Games with Argentina, favoring the Copa America and his club Miami.
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé will not meet at the Paris Olympic Games, and will therefore not be able to continue their debate on the level of the Euro, which the captain of the Blues considers above that of the World Cup, at opposite of his former teammate at PSG. While, like Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga, Mbappé will not be released by Real Madrid, with whom he has just officially signed up, the Argentine will not play in the competition either, which is not part of the FIFA calendar. A decision taken after a discussion with the coach of the Olympic Albicelestehis former partner Javier Mascherano, also titled at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
“Not able to play everything”
“I spoke with Mascherano and the truth is that we both immediately understood the situation. It’s a difficult moment because the Copa America is starting and it would be two or three months in a row that I would be absent from Inter Miami. And above all, at this age, I am not capable of playing everything either, I have to choose the moments carefully, it would be too much to play two tournaments in a row”, confided the eight-time Golden Ball winner to ESPN, in an interview during which he also revealed that he could see himself finishing his career in Florida.
Like the Euro (June 14-July 14), the Copa America takes place just before the Paris Olympic Games, since it is scheduled in the United States from June 20 to July 14. A timing that is actually too tight for Messi, who is preparing to celebrate his 37th birthday and is living again in MLS after a complicated end to his adventure at PSG, at all levels, for a former Barcelona player who had never really adapted to the French capital. Which he will therefore not find this summer.
