Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 4:25 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 16:29

Lionel Messi’s transfer to Paris Saint-Germain has not been welcomed by everyone. The Argentinian, who made the final switch to the French capital this week, can count on little praise from Jorge Sampaoli. That is remarkable, given that the Olympique Marseille coach is a compatriot of Messi and even worked with him on the Argentina national team.

Sampaoli fears that the gap between PSG and the rest of the French league is widening due to the buying attitude of the Parisians. PSG secured the arrival of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum and Messi this summer and hope to seize the Champions League for the first time in history. “The transfer of the best player in the world to PSG obviously has consequences for the difference in level between PSG and the other clubs in Ligue 1,” says Sampaoli.

Sampaoli was 2-3 too strong for Montpellier in the opening game last weekend, but don’t expect it to be an exciting battle in the French league. “This transfer is a reminder to everyone that power is stronger than justice,” Marseille’s coach continues. “With Messi there, a lot more people will watch Ligue 1, but his arrival also means that justice has disappeared. I hope that traditional clubs like Marseille will eventually have the same opportunities as PSG, whose economic position means that Ligue 1 can now dominate.”

Messi and Sampaoli are certainly no strangers to each other. During the 2018 World Cup, the then Argentina coach was heavily criticized by, among others, Messi. The players asked for a meeting with the technical staff after the 3-0 loss against Croatia. Sampaoli and his assistants Lionel Scaloni and Sebastián Beccacece sat down and received a laundry list of complaints within fifteen minutes. Players complained about the lack of stability, the training methods, the changes in the line-up and mutual squabbles. The group of players, led by Javier Mascherano and Messi, would have made it clear that there was no longer any confidence in the national coach. He left in the summer of 2018.