‘Messi told me he doesn’t like playing in the cold’

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at 12:34 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 12:46

Lionel Messi seems to be slowly coming out of his shell in the shirt of Paris Saint-Germain. The attacker took care of all the assists against Saint-Étienne (1-3) on Sunday and received his seventh Golden Ball as the ultimate award on Monday evening. Despite this, he had to get used to the weather conditions in France, Luis Suárez said during the Ballon d’Or gala. The friend and former team-mate of the Argentine star revealed that Messi has a hard time playing in the freezing cold.

Messi won the prestigious Golden Ball for the seventh time in his career on Monday, which he received from Suarez, whom he became good friends with during their stint at Barcelona. The two attackers still speak regularly and went on holiday to Ibiza together last summer. “We talk every day, we try to avoid not speaking to each other for too long,” Suárez said in front of the Argentinean’s camera. TNT Sports. “We talk about the games, about our family. He said that he suffers from having to play in the cold and the snow. He has to get used to the weather, that’s for sure.”

Suárez, who finished in seventeenth place with eight points during the Ballon d’Or election, left Barcelona for Atlético Madrid in the summer of 2020. He had to get used to not being a teammate of Messi after more than six years. “It was difficult to play against him in the Atletico shirt at the Camp Nou,” the attacker confesses. “When I play with Uruguay against Argentina it’s different, those are always fun matches, although it remains difficult to play against Messi.”

Messi was the bookmakers’ favorite to win the Ballon d’Or. In the end, he was 33 points ahead of his closest competitor Robert Lewandowski. The Argentinian addressed the Bayern Munich striker in his word of thanks. “It is an honor to fight against Lewandowski,” said Messi. “You were the winner of the Ballon d’Or last year and France Football should give you that award. You were just a winner, and you should also have the prize.” Lewandowski had an excellent 2020, but did not win the prestigious award last year, because the election was canceled due to the corona pandemic.