Leo's last tango in Paris - Messi never quite the same since PSG injury

goal.com

Still a formidable force, the Argentine has returned from his hamstring problems a different player to the one hailed as the game's greatest goalscorer in 2012

Paris probably isn't Lionel Messi's favourite city. The Argentine watched on in disappointment as he was left out of the squad for the 2006 Champions League final at the Stade de France due to injury and was then laid low with a hamstring problem picked up in last year's Champions League clash at the Parc des Princes.

On Tuesday night, the 27-year-old is back in the French capital for Barcelona's group game against Paris Saint-Germain, but he returns a different player to the one that arrived in the City of Light back in April of 2013.

That game, arguably, marks a watershed moment in the Argentine's astonishing career. All appeared normal as the forward fired Barca into the lead late in the first half, but several minutes later he felt a sharp pain in his thigh on a trademark run into the area. He didn't reappear after the break.

In his absence, Barca were pegged back to a 2-2 draw and he was nowhere near fit for the second leg in the Catalan capital. Nevertheless, with the Blaugrana a goal down and heading for a last-eight exit, Tito Vilanova sent on a limping Leo and the Camp Nou crowd were lifted immediately. And one moment of magic proved sufficient as Messi helped set up Pedro for the clincher on away goals in a 3-3 aggregate draw.

Still struggling for fitness, the forward was a peripheral figure as Barca lost 4-0 to Bayern in Munich. He then came off the bench to score a wonder goal in a 2-2 draw at Athletic Club and looked ready for the Champions League semi-final second leg at Camp Nou, but was not even deemed fit to start and missed the entire game as Barca lost 3-0 (and 7-0 on aggregate). Both player and club had paid the price for the injury problems which had begun on that night in Paris.

Last season, Messi endured further pain as he suffered a recurrence of the problem against Atletico in the Supercopa, then at Almeria in September and again versus Betis in November.

Still not right, the forward took time out to recover and even returned to Argentina for fitness and recuperation sessions in December before making his comeback in January.

On his return, he still scored prolifically but saw his hunger questioned and was unable to prevent Barca from missing out on the major trophies at the end of 2013-14. He was also criticised for covering only 6.8 kilometres in the Champions League quarter-final loss at Atleti - just 1.5 more than goalkeeper Jose Pinto.

"Messi is a player on a different level to the rest, but he had a lot of muscular problems and he was less participative for a while," former Barcelona defender Miguel Angel Nadal told Goal. "He still scored a lot of goals, but he suffered and the whole team suffered.

"There were lots of things that affected Barcelona: Eric Abidal’s illness, what happened with Tito, [Pep] Guardiola’s exit… there were a lot of circumstances. The team last season was adapted to Tata’s ideas, but some of the ambition was missing and the play was less fluid. All of that contributed too."

Bang on form this term with five goals and seven assists already, it is nevertheless a very different Messi to the one that started against PSG in April last year.

"Neymar is in his second season and Barca have more alternatives than before," Nadal added. "They won’t be relying on only Messi to score goals as they did previously."

Indeed, the Argentine is currently operating - and thriving - in a deeper role under Luis Enrique as Barca opt for a slight change of direction in 2014-15. So even though his injury problems are now behind him, there will be a before and after the night at PSG when Leo looks back on his distinguished days in Barcablaugrana.

Still a wonderful player, but now a different player, the formidable goalscorer who wowed the world with 91 strikes in 2012 and 73 in 2011-12 has never really returned in the same vein since his troublesome thigh problem on that night at the Parc des Princes. Messi remains remarkable in so many ways, but has never been quite the same since suffering that inopportune injury in Paris.