Buenos Aires Herald 
Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi has posted a contrite Instagram video apologizing to his team Paris Saint-Germain for taking an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia.
The captain of Argentina’s Qatar 2022 World Cup-winning team is facing sanctions from the French club after missing a training session Monday because he was abroad with his family on the trip.
“First of all, obviously, I want to apologize to my team-mates, to the club,” Messi said. “I honestly thought I was going to have a break after the match, as had been happening in previous weeks.”
He added that he had already canceled the trip to Saudi Arabia and couldn’t do so again.
The 38-second video was posted to his Instagram stories shortly before 1 p.m. on Friday. The star kept schtum, however, on reports that his contract with PSG will not be renewed.
PSG’s sanctions mean he will be excluded from training sessions with the French team and miss the next two matches against Troyes, on Sunday, and Ajaccio on May 13. He will also be fined.
PSG had decided to cancel one of the team’s two days off, giving players just Tuesday to rest. Messi reportedly learned of the decision on Monday when he was already on a plane to Riyadh with his family, on a trip he had already canceled twice to comply with PSG’s schedule.
Sources close to Messi said earlier this week that the player informed the club of the trip, which he took to fulfill commercial commitments as a “tourism ambassador” for that country.
Messi to leave PSG
The controversy over the Saudi trip comes at a rough time for Messi’s relationship with PSG, where the 35-year-old forward has played since 2021. Earlier this week, it was reported that his contract with the club would not be renewed when it ends in June.
So far, neither PSG nor Messi himself have given official statements on the matter.
Amid the scandal, some PSG fans headed to the club gates and chanted insults against Messi in Spanish. The club responded in a brief release that it “most strongly condemns the intolerable and insulting actions of a small group of individuals”.
