Lionel Messi said his aim was to win more silverware, including the Champions League, as he was officially unveiled as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Wednesday morning.
In his first press conference as a PSG player, a visibly excited Messi said his intention was to win more trophies as the club pursue their first ever Champions League title.
PSG reached the final in 2020 for the first time, but fell to a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.
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“I repeat that I’m happy to be here and I’m impatient to play,” he told a packed room of reporters.
“I still want to win and play as I did at the first moment of my career and with this club, the staff, I think this club is really ready to fight for all the trophies.
“I want to keep winning titles and this is why I’ve come here to this club and I really want to make that happen.
I’ll say this: My goal and my dream is to win the Champions League once more. I think Paris is the best place to do so. I think that we have the team to do it here. I hope we can make it happen.
“I’m sure I’m going to enjoy my time here and I’d like to thank PSG again for having me here.”
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Messi said that his former Barcelona teammate Neymar “did a lot” to convince him to leave Barcelona for PSG and the Argentine also spoke of the strength of Ligue 1.
He said: “[Angel] Di Maria, [Leandro] Paredes, all these players. I know all the team-mates in the dressing room actually. We all had contact actually and Neymar did a lot and was important for my move.
“I have been following this league and because of my friends at PSG I have been following their games [in the past].
“This championship has been growing a lot and PSG has worked a lot to grow Ligue 1. The league is more competitive and all the teams are getting stronger because all the teams want to beat PSG and win Ligue 1.”
Messi, who will wear the number 30 shirt, said he hopes to play “as soon as possible” and that he will need a pre-season alone to help get up to full fitness.
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PSG face Strasbourg in their second Ligue 1 game of the season on Saturday evening.
Messi joining PSG has raised questions over whether the deal has been done in line with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, which look to stop clubs from spending beyond its means or otherwise risk being banned from UEFA club competitions.
PSG CEO Nasser al-Khelaifi insists the club are playing by the rules.
“We follow the Financial Fair Play rules,” he said. “We are always attentive to Financial Fair Play. It’s the first thing we check with the commercial, financial and legal people to see if we can do it before signing someone.
I think the media need to focus on the positives and not just the negatives of these moves, but what positives he brings. He’s an unbelievable asset to the club.
Al-Khelaifi also gave an update on the future of Kylian Mbappe, who has been consistently linked with a move away to Real Madrid. He said Mbappe has “no excuse” but to remain in Paris and play alongside some of the world’s best players.
He added: “I think everybody knows the future of Kylian, he wants to win, he wants to win trophies.
“He said it in public, he wants to have a competitive team and we have the most competitive in the world. There is no excuse for him now, he can’t do anything else but stay.”
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