Flamengo midfielder Arturo Vidal has criticized the group of Paris Saint-Germain ultras who hurled insults at Lionel Messi on Wednesday.
Dozens of PSG ultras gathered outside the club’s headquarters on Wednesday to hold a protest amid the club’s sluggish 2022-2023 season. Many PSG ultras called for multiple players to leave the club, including Messi.
Vidal featured for Flamengo in its Copa Libertadores matchup against Racing Club on Thursday. The Chilean midfielder, who was a teammate of Messi’s for a couple of seasons at Barcelona, took some time after the match to touch (via RMC Sport) on the protests from the PSG ultras, noting that it is unacceptable to shout insults at Messi.
“It’s crazy,” Vidal said. “The truth is, these people are getting crazier and crazier. You can’t insult the best player in the world, you can just watch him play. It’s clear he didn’t win them the Champions League, the Cup, but they’re leading in the league. And on top of that, he is a world champion.
“He has participated in every game, he has never been injured. He scored most of the goals with Mbappe. And he made most of the assists. So it’s crazy that they attack the best, but people are like that.”
Messi is set to miss PSG’s next two fixtures, as he was reportedly handed a two-match suspension by the club for taking an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia. It is currently up in the air whether he will once again don a PSG jersey in a match.
More must-reads: