Messi’s Parisian adventure could yet have a happy ending with Champions League glory

It’s hard to know what to make of Lionel Messi’s Parisian adventure so far.

On the one hand many see his relatively low-goal contribution for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, coupled with injury and illness issues, as an indication of a genuine, and perhaps irreversible, drop in form for the first time in an astonishing career.

On the other, he has been increasingly dictating matches, providing assists and building up a devastating understanding with Kylian Mbappe.

In PSG’s last Ligue 1 match against Saint-Etienne on Saturday night, he provided two assists for his French striker partner in a dominant display.

When Paris Saint-Germain signed the Argentine last August, their plan was to build an unstoppable strike force that would help Mauricio Pochettino’s team win the Champions League. And having the then six-time Ballon d’Or winner join was a no-brainer in footballing and commercial terms.

But this ideal vision collided with a harsh reality, with Messi’s impact falling short of what was expected. Even when he has performed to a high level, certain moments have not helped perceptions, such as missing a penalty kick in the 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final.

The press highlighted that it was the eighth match in a row that Messi has failed to score against the Spanish giants, seven of them going back to his time with Barcelona.

He also became the player with the most penalty misses in the Champions League, with five alongside Thierry Henry.

To top it all off, the notoriously stingy L’Equipe gave him a rating of three out of 10 in a match where he was arguably central to PSG’s best moves.

But the picture is not so bleak.

Messi remains the team’s top scorer in the