Lionel Messi is likely to play for Paris Saint-Germain against Ajaccio on Saturday in Ligue 1. He has been banned by the club for going to Saudi Arabia without permission.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner didn’t play in last week’s win at Troyes because he had to work as a Saudi tourist ambassador and missed a training session.
Later, he apologized to the club and his teammates. On Monday, he went back to training with PSG, but his time at the Parc des Princes is coming to a sad end.
After two boring years in France, Messi is likely to play in Saudi Arabia next season as part of a huge deal that would bring him there along with his rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi, who will be 36 next month, will sign a “huge” deal with a club that hasn’t been named yet, an insider told AFP this week.
“Messi is a done deal. “Next season, he will play in Saudi Arabia,” said the person, who asked not to be named.
“This deal is unique. It’s a lot. We are just putting the finishing touches on a few small things,” said the person, who was not allowed to talk to the press.
Messi’s father and agent Jorge says the World Cup winner hasn’t decided where he will play next season. PSG hasn’t confirmed that Messi is leaving yet.
But it looks like he will leave PSG in June, after the team hopes to win a record 11th French league title.
“If the club had wanted to renew his contract, it would have been done earlier,” a PSG source said.
Lens can close the gap to three points at the top if they beat Reims on Friday, but PSG still has four games left against teams in the bottom half of the table.
Ajaccio is likely to go back to Ligue 2 right away because they have only won once in 13 games and three of the four relegation spots are almost certain.
Auxerre is in 16th place and is trying to avoid what happened to Ajaccio. They will play Brest, the team right above them in the standings, next.
Strasbourg hopes to keep their late-season run going against Nice, while third-placed Marseille has a great chance to bounce back from their loss at Lens when Angers comes to town.
Watch out for: Elye Wahi
In last week’s 5-4 loss at Lyon, the 20-year-old scorer became the first player in Ligue 1 history to score four goals for Montpellier.
The France U-21 player has scored 17 goals so far this season, which is four less than Olivier Giroud’s club record of 21 goals, which he set when Montpellier won the title in 2011-12.
Wahi’s path to the top hasn’t been easy. He was kicked out of Caen’s school and almost joined Rennes, but a player who is getting more and more popular has even better things in store.
Key numbers
This season, Lens has scored 46 points at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. They have won 15 of 17 games at home, which is the best mark in the league.
Troyes hasn’t won in 17 games. After starting the year with a win at Strasbourg, Troyes has only gotten four points since then, and they could be kicked out of the league this weekend.
After Nantes fired Antoine Kombouare, there have been 10 new coaches in Ligue 1 this season. The first game for his substitute, Pierre Aristouy, is against Toulouse, which beat the Canaries 5-1 in the French Cup final.
Games (all start times are in GMT)
Friday
Lens v Reims (1900)
Saturday at 15:00, Strasbourg plays Nice, and at 19:00, Paris Saint-Germain plays Ajaccio.
Sunday Clermont v Lyon (1100), Brest v Auxerre, Montpellier v Lorient, Rennes v Troyes, Toulouse v Nantes (all 1500), Monaco v Lille (1505), Marseille v Angers (1845)
