Legendary footballer Lionel Messi scored his first goal for his new team, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) during their UEFA Champions League match with Manchester City on September 29. PSG went on to win the match as they defended their 2-0 lead over City. In the same match, Messi was seen laying down behind the wall during a free-kick at the injury time of the game. This unexpected task by the 34-year-old caught the attention of football fans, who took social media by storm with their varied opinions.
The reason why Messi chose to lay down behind the wall, is probably to prevent City from scoring a goal under the wall. In the past, other teams have used this innovative tactic against Messi himself to defend free-kicks with a player lying down behind walls and prevent the maestro from scoring.
Meanwhile Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand, has said Paris Saint-Germain manager, Mauricio Pochettino, was “disrespectful” for giving Lionel Messi the role of lying behind the defensive wall at free-kicks.
Ferdinand insisted Messi should not be carrying out that duty, and that if he was in the PSG team, he would offer to do it instead.
“The moment Pochettino asked him to do this at the training ground, someone should have gone in and said, ‘No, no, no, Lionel Messi doesn’t do that.’
“You can’t do it, it’s disrespectful, I wouldn’t have it.
“If I was in that team, I would be like, ‘No, no, no, I’d lay down for you.’ He doesn’t get his kit dirty, that’s not what Messi does,” Ferdinand said on BT Sport.
However, PSG won the match comfortably courtesy of the first goal by Idrissa Gueye in the 8th minute of the game and the second goal by Messi at the 74th minute.
