An emotional Lionel Messi bids farewell to FC Barcelona

An emotional Lionel Messi bids farewell to FC Barcelona

An emotional and tearful Lionel Messi finally bid adieu to his boyhood club Barcelona in a press conference held at the Camp Nou. It marked a sad ending for the Argentine superstar, who had started his career at the club aged 13 in 2000.

Lionel Messi’s contract came to an end with Barcelona this summer, but he was all set to renew with the club until La Liga dropped a huge bombshell and all of those renewal talks were thrown out of the window. Barcelona and Joan Laporta announced that he would be leaving this summer and Messi spoke to his Barca fans for one final time in an emotional afternoon at the club’s home ground in Catalonia.

Lionel Messi’s Tearful Introductory Speech –

Lionel Messi
The different moods of the Messiah in the press conference
“I don’t know what to stay. These recent days I’ve been thinking about what I can say. The truth is that I can’t think of anything. This is really difficult for me after so many years. I’ve been here all my life. I’m not ready for this and honestly last year with all the nonsense with the buro-fax and everything I was convinced I knew what to say but this year is not the same. This year my family and I were convinced we would stay here. This is what we all wanted more than anything. We’ve made this our home. We thought we’d be staying here. The times we’ve had here have been amazing but today I have to say goodbye to all of this.

“I’ve been here since i was 13. after 21 years I’m leaving with my wife, with my three little Catalan-Argentine kids. I’m just really grateful for everything to all my teammates, my former teammates, everyone at the club, who has been by my side. all the people, there are so many people. I thank everyone for the love I’ve had to live so many experiences, so many beautiful things that have happened.”

On talks of Barcelona asking him to take a further 30% wage cut to stay at the club-

Speaking about his future prospects

“It’s how Laporta explained it. At the last minute, with everything with the league, it couldn’t happen. What’s clear is that I did everything possible. They couldn’t do it because of La Liga. We did everything we could because I wanted to stay, last year I didn’t, but this year I did and I couldn’t.

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“I offered to reduce my contract by 50% and they asked for nothing else. The news of me asking 30% more is a lie. A lot of what people are saying are not true. We did everything we could and it wasn’t possible.”

On his possible next destination being rumoured to be Paris-Saint Germain

An emotional Messi just before leaving the stage

“Paris Saint-Germain is a possibility, but sincerely as of today there is nothing agreed with anyone. When the statement came out, I had many calls, various clubs were interested. But I have nothing closed yet. But we are talking.”

What Barcelona would be without Lionel Messi in the future

Messi with his partner Antonella, who was a front-row audience to his speech

“Barca are the biggest club in the world, a marvelous squad. Players come and go, it’s true, as Laporta said the club is bigger than any individual. The fans will get used to it, as they always do. They have very good players, and things will work out in the end.”

It is now an interesting wait, as Lionel Messi chooses his next club as Manchester City and Paris-Saint Germain wait in the wings looking to sign the Argentine superstar.

Also Read: Lionel Messi verbally agrees to contract renewal with FC Barcelona, deal very close to completion