A complex personal and sporting adjustment. PSG is not playing for Leo now as Barça did, the Argentinian is no longer calling the shots, no longer the leader who leaves his teammates open-mouthed with some of his actions. Before PSG, Guardiola’s City. Messi called Pep but the coach said he couldn’t sign him. He made excuses, a lot of them, one being that he already had Grealish tied down, but none of those excuses was enough for Leo.

At City everyone wanted him, but Guardiola said it could not be. That he was the best and there was no-one like him but Grealish was there. Messi felt the cold, the loneliness, the passage of time is unforgiving and Guardiola was in a position of advantage after seeing how Leo didn’t respond to his dismissal as coach in 2012. He was the only one who didn’t respond, now Guardiola was the only one who didn’t see the signing happening.

Long distant were those magical evenings in Barcelona when he had won matches thanks to his individual brilliance, when he made plays to be remembered and won titles that catapulted him to the summit of world football. Guardiola became great, it was his team until with the passage of the years that Dream Team became Messi’s team. Those days will not return. Their paths could have crossed a year ago, long before Grealish was signed, but Guardiola said no.