Lionel Messi
scored his 496th goal in Europe’s top five leagues as Paris Saint-Germain clinched their 11th Ligue 1 championship, breaking Ronaldo’s previous record of 495 goals scored in Europe’s top five leagues.
PSG took a one-goal lead over Strasbourg in the 59th minute when the Argentine pounced on a superbly weighted cross from Kylian Mbappé and struck the back of the net to give PSG the advantage.
Twenty minutes later, Kevin Gameiro scored an equalizer for Strasbourg, but even though the game finished in a draw, PSG was able to cruise to the league championship without much difficulty.
PSG surpassed Saint-Etienne’s haul of 10 Ligue 1 trophies to earn the outright record on the same day that Messi broke a record in the same competition. It was a record-breaking day for both Messi and PSG.
The victory also represented the first time in the history of the league that PSG has sat at the top of the table from the first round of matches until the last, a run that dates back to the third round of the 2021/22 season and 73 consecutive matches in all.
But this most recent victory hides an increasingly strained relationship between PSG and Messi. Messi was given a club-imposed suspension earlier this month for taking an illegal trip to Saudi Arabia, which resulted in his missing a training session. This trip caused Messi to miss a training session.
Since then, the forward who won the World Cup has expressed his regret to both PSG and his teammates, adding that he “sincerely thought” that he had a day off. On his return to the side, he was booed by some of his own fans, and in March, he was booed by a sizeable part of PSG fans, along with Neymar. Some of his own fans also booed him.
It was reported earlier this month that Messi’s representatives shot down speculations that he had reached an agreement to play for a club in Saudi Arabia once his current deal with PSG expires on June 30.
Christophe Galtier, the manager of Paris Saint-Germain, has also had a challenging season as the club’s hopes of advancing further in the Champions League were dashed when they were eliminated by Bayern Munich in the round of 16.
According to the BBC, Galtier made these comments after watching the final day of the season in the Bundesliga: “This afternoon I watched the final day of the season in the Bundesliga and you can see that it is very difficult to win the league, any league.”
We are aware of the significance of this fact because the defending champions of every European league have struggled mightily during this season. Even though we are Paris Saint-Germain, we must never forget that it is a title, and we must never think that it is usual to win.
