Lionel Messi has been backed to win the UEFA Champions League with Paris Saint-German before going on to end his career at Barcelona.
In an interview with ESPN, Argentina legend and former Barcelona forward Juan Roman Riquelme has made some interesting to claims about Lionel Messi and his move to Paris Saint-Germain. The 43-year-old has predicted Messi to win the UEFA Champions League with PSG before returning to Barcelona before the end of his career.
It is a news that still seems to be shocking. Nearly a month after it was first announced, the fact that Lionel Messi has left Barcelona still is quite unbelievable to say the least. Since then, he has joined Paris Saint-Germain, and has even made his debut for the Ligue 1 heavyweights.
Messi came on as a second half substitute against Reims last week, and the first start for PSG is not too far away. The move, though, has brought about massive expectations from the club, with the widespread suggestion being that they are now the clear favourites to win the UEFA Champions League.
That is precisely the opinion of Juan Roman Riquelme as well. In fact, the Argentina legend and former Barcelona forward has predicted in an interview with ESPN that PSG will win the UEFA Champions League before Messi returns to Barcelona at the twilight of his storied career.
“I hope that Messi goes on to enjoy Paris. I don’t know if it’s strange, but we are all excited to see him enjoy playing with [Kylian] Mbappe and Neymar. If they don’t win the Champions League now, they won’t win it. Messi is the best because he likes play with the ball. I think Messi will win the Champions League with PSG and retire at Barcelona.”
That is quite an interesting prediction from Riquelme, and it will be interesting to see if a popular return to Barcelona is in store for Messi in the future. As things stand on the financial front, signing Messi outright on a transfer fee is nigh on impossible for the Blaugrana.
However, if Messi runs down his contract with PSG then in two years’ time, the possibility of a return to Camp Nou could well be on the cards. For now, Messi is a PSG player and it remains to be seen if he goes on to win the Champions League, as predicted by Riquelme.