The World Cup winner will be in Doha for a brief spell with PSG
Messi now returns as king to the land that crowned him, though he will be without his ‘millionaire cape’, which is curious story in itself.
PSG will spend just a few hours in Doha, where they will train at the Khalifa Stadium and take part in a series of advertising engagements with Qatar Airways, ALL, Qatar Tourism, QNB, Ooredoo, and Aspetar, according to the club’s own announcement.
Doha is already a regular destination for the Qatari-owned club, who have visited on seven different tours in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
Messi’s cape
The story of the cape is a curious one – remember the cape given by Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with which Messi lifted the cup?
It is called Besht, and it is only worn on special occasions, such as on Qatar National Day (18 December), by very important personalities. That black and gold Besht turned out to be worth over a million, as the Argentine Football Association received a good sum of money for accepting the Emir’s honour.
A sum that Messi himself encouraged be distributed among all those (cooks, helpers and other staff) who had helped the Albiceleste win the coveted trophy.
PSG’s tour
The Parisian side will fly (65 minutes by plane) from Doha to Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) a few hours later to face a mixed team of the two big Saudi clubs (Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo‘s new club and Al Hilal, four times champions of the Asian Champions League.
The match, which will pit Messi against Ronaldo, has created a huge amount buzz. The Saudi team will also be coached by the exceptional former River Plate coach, Marcelo Gallardo.
The friendly is part of the so-called Riyadh Season – an event of the Saudi state that takes place from 2019 (from October to March), which promotes entertainment and sport in the region.
After tomorrow’s match, PSG will fly back to Paris for Sunday’s Coupe de France round of 16 clash with sixth-division minnows Union Sportive Pays de Cassel.
