Special/ SME
The proverb “The wind came with what the ships did not desire” was correct. After the Argentine star and the French club Paris Saint-Germain striker planned to visit Saudi Arabia on a lightning trip, Messi was surprised to call the team for training.
This came after cutting off the team’s scheduled rest last Monday against the backdrop of its 3-1 defeat against its rival Lorient on Sunday, while the Argentine star was unable to respond to his coach’s call to return to the training camp, after his plane approached Saudi airspace, on a flight not authorized by the agency. Technical and administrative, neither by his coach Christophe Galtier nor by sports advisor Luis Campoz, so the club opened disciplinary procedures to punish Messi, and it was decided to suspend him for two weeks, to miss two matches against Troyes next Sunday, and against Ajaccio on Saturday, May 13.
It seems that Messi entered into negotiations with the Saudi side, based on his lack of conviction in his contract with PSG, so he set out in search of alternatives from Middle Eastern clubs and the MLS league.
For his part, Ahmed Al-Khatib, the Saudi Minister of Tourism, welcomed Messi’s visit, which witnessed an unparalleled hospitality and welcome, in his tweet to him on the social networking site “Twitter” saying: “#Welcome_Messi to the land of tradition and the origin of history; Diriyah, on an enjoyable tourist tour that includes experiences Miscellaneous with his wife Antonella and his sons Matteo and Ciro, where he met the generous and hospitable Saudi people in the Al-Turaif neighborhood.