By Daily Sports Nigeria on May 17, 2022

Paris Saint-Germain attacker Lionel Messi has missed out on a place in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has struggled to hit the same goalscoring heights as he did during his Barcelona era – netting just six goals in 25 Ligue 1 appearances so far.

However, Messi has registered 13 assists in top-flight action for Mauricio Pochettino’s side this term – only Kylian Mbappe boasts more having set up 19 strikes.

A turbulent first season in Paris has also seen Messi become the subject of boos from the home crowd at the Parc des Princes in the wake of his side’s Champions League capitulation against Real Madrid.

Neymar and Pochettino have also been targeted by jeers from the Parisiens fanbase, and the latter was not even nominated for the Manager of the Year award despite taking his side to the title with four games to spare.

Messi’s 19 goal contributions this season were not enough to earn him a place in the Team of the Year, and Neymar was unsurprisingly snubbed as well amid his injury-plagued season.

Mbappe – who also scooped the Player of the Year award – is included alongside Martin Terrier and Wissam Ben Yedder, with the trio boasting a whopping 70 goals between them this season.

PSG boast three representatives in the rearguard of the Team of the Year, including Gianluigi Donnarumma, in spite of the Italian keeping a mere five clean sheets in Ligue 1 this season during his battle for supremacy with Keylor Navas.

Marquinhos and Nuno Mendes round off the PSG representatives in the XI, while in-demand midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni of Monaco is also included.

Lens boast two Team of the Year players in the forms of right-back Jonathan Clauss and Seko Fofana alongside Marseille duo Dimitri Payet and William Saliba – the latter of whom was named the Young Player of the Year.

Messi is under contract at the Parc des Princes until the end of next season with an additional 12 months, but the attacker’s father Jorge Messi “hopes” his son will return to Barcelona one day.

The former Newells Old Boys youngster spent 22 years in Catalonia since arriving at La Masia as a 13-year-old and racked up 672 goals and 302 assists in 777 games for the club in all tournaments.

However, Barca’s long-running financial problems forced Messi out of the door last summer, and president Joan Laporta does not expect the Argentine to ever return in a playing capacity.

Source SPORTING SUN

Posted May 17, 2022

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