There's a chill in the air fitting for the mood Paris Saint-Germain fans hold towards superstar forward Lionel Messi, whose time left at the club can now surely be measured in weeks rather than years.
"Messi does not love PSG and PSG does not love Messi. He should never wear the shirt again."
Those are the words of Florian, a 31-year-old supporter who works in hospitality. He is by no means the only voice of dissent and is indicative of the sentiment towards Messi and the club's Qatari owners.
The thousands of ultras and supporters who greeted Messi's arrival from Barcelona almost two years ago with such unbridled optimism are now calling on him – along with club chairman and CEO Nasser Al Khelaifi – to go.
The Argentina forward's contract at Parc des Princes expires in June, the same month Messi celebrates his 36th birthday, and neither party is of a mind to execute the option of extending that association a further 12 months.
Messi issued an apology Friday to PSG fans for fulfilling a long-standing commitment to the Saudi Tourism board, of which he is a brand ambassador, by travelling to the Kingdom with his family last week but what his club has described was an unauthorised trip.
The fluffy, PR-heavy video of Messi and his family enjoying their time in Riyadh while his teammates trained at home sticks in the craw of some.
The player believed that he – along with the rest of the squad – had been given two days off following a defeat to Lorient on Sunday, April 30 only for PSG coach Christophe Galtier to order his players in for training on the Monday. He was hit with a two week suspension and fined a fortnight's wages.
"The fact he went to Saudi Arabia, when PSG is fighting for [the] Ligue 1 [title], and after we lost 3-1 to Lorient, at the Parc [des Princes], is not acceptable," says Maxi Zuello, 25.
"It doesn't matter if he had told the Saudis he would go or that the coach told him he couldn't go – why is he going to Saudi Arabia during the most important moment of the season? If it is only a short trip, he could have fulfilled his commitment in the summer, after the season finishes. Even if he was planning to leave, he should have shown respect to PSG by arranging that trip after the season ended. The optics are bad."
Florian adds: "Messi's priority should be PSG and only PSG. Everything else is a distraction."
Habitual winners of Ligue 1, PSG's lead at the top is still five points after second-placed Marseille lost 2-1 at Lens on Saturday.
Zuello, a lifelong PSG fan and season-ticket holder, said he had refused to travel to support the team in Sunday's game against relegation-threatened Troyes in protest at the way the club is being run.
"QSI [Qatar Sports Investment] sees PSG as a glamour project. They sign the biggest names like Messi, Neymar, to show off to the world that they can attract the biggest names. But these players do not care about PSG and neither do the owners. They have forgotten it's about football.
"We don't need players who will sell the most shirts, we need players who will fight for the team, owners with a long-term vision to make PSG the best club in the world, fighting for the Champions League. Right now, we have neither."
With Messi told to stay away by his club bosses and seemingly persona non grata among the fans, it remains to be seen whether he will be in the French capital for the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards on Monday, where he is nominated for the Best Sportsman and is favourite to win having led Argentina to World Cup glory late last year.
The Messi mess is indicative of a wider malaise at the French giants.
Just 24 hours after Messi was punished for his trip to Saudi Arabia, PSG fans descended on the club's Boulogne-Billancourt headquarters to vent their frustration. As well as Messi, Al Khelaifi, Neymar and PSG midfielder Marco Verratti were the subject of their ire. Neymar said on social media the PSG ultras had even gone to his house beforehand.
Fans are unhappy about an array of issues including the direction of the club, ticket prices and the state of their Parc des Princes home. Underlying all of that, though, is the team's failure on the biggest stage – the Champions League.
Messi's arrival was supposed to be the final piece of the puzzle. A four-time winner of European football's premier club competition at Barcelona would be paired in attack with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. PSG could boast an attacking line up the equal of Real Madrid's famed 'BBC' troika of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo as well as the famed front three of Messi's halcyon days at Barcelona alongside Neymar and Luis Suarez.
But elimination at the last-16 stage in each of Messi's two seasons punctured that dream. Fans were left questioning why a player widely regarded as the best of all time could drag every last ounce of effort out of his unheralded Argentina to win the World Cup but could not inspire the same out of an expensive array of superstars at PSG.
"We all saw Messi at the World Cup – he was a genius," says Pierre Grau, wearing a replica of Mbappe's No 7 PSG shirt. "Him and Mbappe were the best players in Qatar, both PSG players. The way they played in the final gave us all hope that, when they came back, this would be our year to win the Champions League.
"But Messi's performances since the World Cup have not been good. It's not just him, there are others, too. [But] You sense he would rather be back at Barcelona or playing for even more money in Saudi Arabia. If this is his motivation, he can go."
Barcelona are said to have tabled an offer worth a fraction of what Messi was on during his first stint at the club while Al Hilal, who on Saturday lost out on retaining their Asian Champions League crown, have, according to reports, bid a staggering €400 million a year to lure Messi to Saudi.
While it would be folly to put PSG's failures in Europe down to just Messi, what is clear is that fans believe his recent trip to Saudi Arabia has damaged his relationship with the club beyond repair.
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
LIVERPOOL SQUAD
Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Naby Keita, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Joe Gomez, Adrian, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana, Andy Lonergan, Xherdan Shaqiri, Andy Robertson, Divock Origi, Curtis Jones, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Neco Williams
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
'Nightmare Alley'
Director:Guillermo del Toro
Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Rating: 3/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
Company%20profile
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STAGE%201%20RESULTS
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
STAY%2C%20DAUGHTER
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Fourth-round clashes for British players
- Andy Murray (1) v Benoit Paire, Centre Court (not before 4pm)
- Johanna Konta (6) v Caroline Garcia (21), Court 1 (4pm)
The biog
Name: Younis Al Balooshi
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Doctorate degree in forensic medicine at the University of Bonn
Hobbies: Drawing and reading books about graphic design
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
AS%20WE%20EXIST
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The rules of the road keeping cyclists safe
Cyclists must wear a helmet, arm and knee pads
Have a white front-light and a back red-light on their bike
They must place a number plate with reflective light to the back of the bike to alert road-users
Avoid carrying weights that could cause the bike to lose balance
They must cycle on designated lanes and areas and ride safe on pavements to avoid bumping into pedestrians
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Company%20profile%20
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