The attacking midfielder of the French club Paris Saint-Germain, Leandro Paredes, has spilled the beans on a conflict situation on the pitch involving Lionel Messi.
An "angry" Messi "wanted to kill" Paredes in a very heated confrontation during a 2021 Champions League match, when the 34-year-old was still playing for Barcelona FC.
“He got angry, because I had made a comment to my teammates and he heard me, and he got angry. He was really angry. He f***ed me up. It was bad. He wanted to kill me and I wanted to go home,” Paredes said in a conversation with Caja Negra.
At the time, Barcelona lost to the French club in the 2021 Champions League last-16.
But later, when the two Argentines met in their national team, Messi behaved as if nothing had happened before.
“Afterwards I saw him in the national team and he acted as if nothing had happened. He showed me what he is like as a person. The relationship continued as it was. Now, when the conversation comes up, we talk about it and laugh, but he was really angry at the time - he wanted to kill me!” Paredes added.
Messi moved to PSG last year, becoming a teammate of Paredes. He played 26 matches in the French Championship and scored six goals in them.
Paredes, 27, played 22 matches for PSG in all competitions last season, in which he scored one goal and gave two assists. The Argentine moved to the French club from Zenit St Petersburg, for which he played 61 matches and scored 10 goals and 16 assists.