The back of Paris Saint-Germain Achraf Hakimi is enthusiastic about the prospect of facing the former teammate Lionel Messi during the club World Cup but warned “on the ground, there are no friends”.
Yesterday, PSG organized a last meeting with Inter Miami from Messi with goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Hakimi seeing them at a 2-0 victory against the Spenders of Seattle.
Miami progressed via a 2-2 draw with Palmeiras.
Next meeting: Inter Miami in the round of 16! 👊
Meeting to be followed for free on @Dazn_fr #Fifacwc pic.twitter.com/mvd2r9qxlz
– Paris Saint-Germain (@psg_inside) June 24, 2025
Atlanta Ready for Reunion Festival
This means that there will be a lot of reunion in Atlanta on Sunday. Messi will be able to see several of the PSG players with whom he shared a wardrobe during a largely unhappy two -year spell in the Parc des Princes while the Argentinian, as well as Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano, will appear against Luis Enrique, who managed them in Barcelona.
He promises to be an emotional opportunity, but Hakimi, speaking before the match is confirmed, insists that there will be no old pals.
He said to Le Parisien: “It would be good to meet Messi again. There have been many beautiful moments.
“We will see who we play against, but on the ground, there are no friends. He will try to win and we will also try to win. We will give everything to try to go to the next round. ”
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is also looking forward to Messi.
The Italian said: “It’s fantastic for us, it’s fantastic for me. I lived two years with him, it was two fantastic years where we played with the greatest player in the world.
“But now, I hope we will win because it has already won many titles.”
The players are tired – Vitinha
PSG was not at best their sparkle against Seattle and the midfielder in Portugal, Vitinha, admitted that the players were tired after a long season.
“Yes, we feel the fatigue that is there,” he said. “I think it shows.
“This is the case for us, but for other teams too. If we are not good, we will not hide behind fatigue and the amount of games. But it’s true, it exists.
“You have to recover well to be ready for the next one because you want to go until the end of the competition. We focus on the next game.”
PSG focused on the present – Vitinha
The surprise defeat of PSG against Botafogo during their previous release meant that Luis Enrique’s plan to rest several players should be put aside to ensure qualification with Donnarumma, Hakimi, Willian Pacho, Vitinha, Kvaratskhelia and Differed Desire starting each of the group games in eight days.
But Vitinha insists that the final objective remains the same; To add the club World Cup to its crown of the Champions League.
He added: “It’s a great opportunity to play a club World Cup. As the coach told us, we don’t know when this opportunity will reappear.
“Many things can happen, you have to enjoy the present because it’s a great competition. We are trying not to come back to the amount of games already played and we focus on the joy of playing and being here.”
