At some point I will return to Barcelona: Messi

Paris Saint Germain’s Argentine superstar Lionel Messi had a long interview with Spanish sports daily Marca where he hinted that he is willing to return to Barcelona at some point of his career.

Here are some of the excerpts from Messi’s interview where he discussed his adaptation to life in the French capital, PSG’s chances of winning the Champions League and many more..

Question: And here in Paris, you have already adapted, with a house, the children’s school issue resolved. We see you go out with Antonela to dinner. You are settling down…

Lionel Messi: Now I am very well. I am fully adapted ever since we were able to enter our new home and the children started school and their daily routine. We also had to go through many trips to Argentina for the qualifiers that prevented us from having continuity with matches here. But I’ve settled down well.

How do your children handle it? Did they start learning French?

Messi: It was much easier than we imagined at first. We had given it a lot of thought and how difficult it was going to be for them. And in the end, they were the ones who adapted and got used the quickest.

They are already going to school and will surely learn French very quickly, because when it comes to learning, children fly. All this has given us great peace of mind, both to Antonela and to me. We have seen that very quickly they were very well and adapted to the new city and country.

With you, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, as well as many others, is it possible to think that PSG are not the big favourites to win the Champions League?

Messi: Everyone says that we are the big favourites and I will not deny that we are one of the candidates by name, but we still need things to become a really strong team. We have to finish consolidating as a team and we have the advantage of having very great players to achieve it. But we are not the only ones, there are other great teams that are candidates. The Champions League is a very difficult competition, that makes it so beautiful and special. The best teams are there and it is getting more and more complicated. Yes, amongst the favourites, but not the only ones.

Which teams do you think are candidates for the Champions League?

Messi: Now, Liverpool are doing very well. They are again [looking like] the Liverpool that won the Champions League. Then there are Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid...

There are many teams that can fight for the Champions League, which is one of the most even and competitive in recent years because there are several teams that could win it.

What do you think of Cristiano’s performances?

Messi: [Manchester] United are a very strong team with great players. Cristiano already knew the club, but that was in another stage and now he has adapted in an impressive way. From the beginning he has scored goals as always and had no problems adapting. In the Premier League, [Manchester United] are not as good as we all thought, but it is a very difficult and even competition in which things take a lot of turns. After December it changes a lot and anything can happen.

What can Xavi give Barcelona?

Messi: He can contribute a lot. He is a coach who knows a lot, knows the place perfectly and has lived in Barcelona since he was a child. He has brought back hope to Barcelona because he is a highly respected figure among the fans and the players. He will be a very important coach for the younger players because he is going to teach them. With him, the team will grow a lot. I have no doubt.

What can Argentina achieve at the World Cup?

Messi: We are doing very well now. Having won the Copa America helps a lot because the team works differently and is more confident. But we know that we still have a long way to go to be among the favourites. We will try to arrive in the best possible way to continue competing as we are doing in each game.