Lionel Messi Says Goodbye to Barcelona, Twitter Reacts
The Spanish football club F.C. Barcelona has now released another Press Conference: this time it was Lionel Messi who appeared in front of the journalists at Camp Nou, the club’s home stadium.
Lionel Andres Messi was welcomed on stage with a huge applause by the crowd. His wife, his kids, the club's president Joan Laporta, and his former teammates were present to see Lionel Messi bid farewell to the club.
The reception made Messi emotional and he couldn’t control it. He started by saying, “This is really difficult for me. I have been here my entire life and I am not ready for this.” He also added, ”My family and I were convinced that we were gonna stay here. We were gonna stay at home, that’s what we all wanted more than anything … we thought we were gonna stay here at Barcelona.”
Since the start of his senior career, Messi was part of Barcelona. He joined the club in the year 2000, and then became part of Barcelona C team and eventually progressed to the A team. He said, “I have been here my entire life here since 13. After 21 years, I am leaving with my wife and 3 little Catalan, Argentinian kids”.
He was also grateful to the club and people who had shown him love. “I am grateful for everything. All my teammates, all my former teammates. Everyone at the club has been by my side … I have never imagined having said goodbye in this way.”
He showed regret for not being able to play in front of the fans for over a year and half, and wanted to play before the full crowd at Camp Nou. He ended his brief intro having his eyes filled tears and the crowd present stood up to give him another loud applause.
In answer to a question, he stated that his best moment in the club was his debut for the club. In response to another question, he stated that he did everything he could do but the club couldn’t sign him because of LaLiga. “I didn’t want to stay last year and I said that, but this year I wanted to stay but I couldn’t” He added, “It will be difficult to change but we need to accept it, and move forward”. At other instances he said, “This is the end with the club and new story will begin”. Messi talked about how his fans will get used to and it will feel weird at start but Barcelona has a great team that can continue its legacy.
A journalist asked him about the possibility of him joining PSG, and his future plans, to which he replied, “PSG is a possibility but I have nothing confirmed with anybody. When press release was published, I had a lot of calls, a lot of clubs are interested. At the moment I have not closed anything but we are talking about a lot of things”. He also revealed his intentions for his final years before retiring: “ People of Barca know. They know I am a good player and I like to compete. Like I did here, I will fight to win everything. Last years of my career, I will finish it in my way … and end my career at high.”
While Messi was at vacation in Ibiza, Spain, a picture shows him with his PSG friend and there were speculations by the fans and media that somehow the recent pictures hinted that he was leaving Barca for PSG. He explained. “It was a coincidence, I met them in Ibiza, we got together one day … there was a joke at the time where everyone was saying Come to Paris! Come to Paris! But it was all just a joke.”
He also said that I offered to reduce my salary by 50% but the club didn’t asked anything else. He also said that many people are saying things about him which is far from reality.
This chapter is now indeed closed and even though fans are having a hard time believing that they won’t see him in his Barcelona jersey again, the fans are hoping that they soon get to see Messi’s magic again and he finishes his last years of his career at the top.
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