Lionel Messi reveals his struggle after contracting Covid-19

Argentina’s Lionel Messi has revealed the trouble he faced after contracting Covid-19 and how it affected his game after becoming ill in January.

In an interview with TYC Sports on Monday, Messi said he experienced common symptoms of the virus — a sore throat, coughing and fever. But the PSG forward continued to struggle with respiratory issues afterwards.

“The truth is that it hit me very hard,” Messi said. “It left me with after effects. I couldn’t train. I came back and spent about a month and a half without being able to even run because it had affected my lungs.”

Messi says it was one of the reasons for a mediocre season in Ligue 1 by the Argentinian’s high standards, as he struggled to adapt to football in Paris. “I had to get used to a new way of playing because I was used to playing my whole life in one way. You see football differently, with new team-mates. In Barcelona I had team-mates that knew me by heart.

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“On top of that I arrived late at the club, then I had a knock on my knee and between one thing and another, I couldn’t do three or four games in a row. The holidays came and I said ‘I’m going to recharge my batteries, the adjusting time is over’, and then Covid hit me.”

The 34-year-old won Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain but scored only 11 goals in all competitions, down from 38 the previous season, albeit playing in a more withdrawn playmaking role than he had played at Barcelona.

Messi missed three matches after his positive test in January: two in Ligue 1 and one in the French Cup.

The forward is preparing to play with his national team against Italy in the first edition of the Finalissima, a new competition pitting the winners of Euro 2020 against the winners of the Copa America. The match takes place on June 1st.