da bet sport： After the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner was given a two-week ban by PSG for his trip to Saudi Arabia, GOAL looks back on other similar situations…
da 888casino： Paris Saint-Germain shocked the footballing world on Tuesday when they announced that World Cup winner Lionel Messi would be suspended for two weeks without pay. It was subsequently revealed that the player had ignored his manager and club, missing training in order to take a trip to Saudi Arabia, who he has a lucrative sponsorship deal with.
PSG, determined to make an example of a player who seems increasingly likely to leave this summer, threw their Ligue 1 title hopes into slight jeopardy and banned one of their biggest names for a crucial two-week stretch.
But Messi isn't the only high-profile player to be sidelined by his own club or national team. Indeed, there is a rich history of stars who have been forced to miss time due to disciplinary reasons.
GOAL takes a look back at some of the biggest stars to have been suspended by their own team…
Getty ImagesLionel Messi
Messi jetted off to Saudi Arabia for a few days at the beginning of this week without the permission of PSG, fulfilling responsibilities associated with his lucrative sponsorship deal with the Middle Eastern country.
Messi reportedly let the club know about the trip in advance, and manager Christophe Galtier agreed to sanction his plans if the Parisians either beat or drew with Lorient on Sunday. However, they suffered an embarrassing 3-1 loss, their third in four home games. Messi, though, went to Riyadh anyway.
The club has subsequently banned him from entering any of their facilities, preventing him from both training and making official appearances. It is also expected to be the final straw in a drawn-out contract standoff — Messi will not be at Parc des Princes next season.
AdvertisementAAMesut Ozil
Once one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, Ozil's career declined sharply towards the end of his Arsenal tenure. The Germany international left north London on poor terms, with the club refusing to register him in time for the 2020-21 season.
He would eventually join Fenerbahce that January, but a series of injuries and poor performances derailed his time there, and Ozil was eventually suspended for the final eight league games of the season after getting into a row with his manager, Ismail Kartal.
Ozil, for his part, insisted that he had no problem with the club, though pointed out that he hadn't been paid for the first six months of his contract. He left at the end of the season, and retired in March at just 34.
Getty ImagesPierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Aubameyang has been something of a troublemaker at various points in his career. In January 2018, Borussia Dortmund suspended and fined him for failing to report for a team meeting after training. His decision not to show up, presumably associated with his desire to join Arsenal before the end of the transfer window, saw his time in Germany come to an end.
His exit from the Gunners around four years later played out in a remarkably similar fashion. Aubameyang visited his mother in France in December 2021, and returned to training a day late. The club swiftly stripped him of the captaincy and dropped him from the squad for their next game against Southampton.
Manager Mikel Arteta explained that he had decided to leave Aubameyang out due to a "disciplinary breach." It culminated with the star striker training alone and being banned from making any first-team appearances. He left for Barcelona within six weeks.
GettyMario Balotelli
Balotelli's career has been a source of constant entertainment, for the right and wrong reasons. The immensely talented Italian has enjoyed his fair share of impressive moments on a football pitch, but will perhaps be best remembered for his antics off it.
It all started in 2009, when the immensely-gifted but admittedly mercurial Italian clashed with Jose Mourinho while at Inter. The manager publically criticised Balotelli for his lack of effort in training, and dropped him for a whole month in January.
And things didn't get much better when he secured a high-profile transfer to Manchester City. From visiting a women's prison to setting off fireworks in his bathroom, Balotelli became a media sensation during his time in Manchester. He didn't face an official suspension until early 2012, though, when he was banned for four games for stomping on Scott Parker's head during a Premier League clash with Tottenham.
He was at it again for AC Milan a year later, banned for using "intimidating and insulting" language towards the referee after his side lost to Napoli. He rounded it off in late 2014 while at Liverpool, being banned by the FA for posting an anti-Semitic picture on his Instagram.