{"id":113604,"date":"2021-08-08T11:44:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T11:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=113604"},"modified":"2021-08-08T12:58:44","modified_gmt":"2021-08-08T12:58:44","slug":"teary-messi-leaves-door-open-for-barca-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=113604","title":{"rendered":"Teary Messi leaves door open for Barca return"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tearful Lionel Messi<\/a> has left the door open for a fairytale return to Barcelona before he retires, after La Liga rules forced him to part ways with the only club he's known.<\/p>\n

Barcelona announced Thursday it could not keep its greatest player<\/a> because it wasn't able to fit a new contract within the Spanish league's financial fair-play regulations. The club's salary cap has been significantly slashed because of its huge debt. <\/p>\n

<\/strong>MORE: <\/strong>How money came between Messi and Barcelona<\/a><\/p>\n

President Joan Laporta blamed the club's struggles on the coronavirus pandemic and particularly on the previous administration led by Josep Bartomeu.<\/p>\n

Messi asked to leave at the end of the 2019-20 season but had his request denied by Bartomeu. The Argentina star had agreed to stay and had reached agreement with Barcelona on a new contract, but the club wasn't able to make it work because of its dire financial situation.<\/p>\n

\"Lionel<\/p>\n

Messi officially brought his glorious 21-year tenure at the club to an end in an emotional press conference where he spoke to local reporters as well as his Barca teammates.<\/p>\n

Fighting tears as he spoke, Messi explained that he had not wanted to leave the club, calling the sudden departure "the most difficult" moment of his illustrious career.<\/p>\n

"The truth is I don't know what to say. These recent days I've been giving lots of thought to what I could say, and the truth is that I can't think of anything," he said.<\/p>\n

"This is really difficult for me after so many years being here my entire life, I'm not ready for this."<\/p>\n

\"Lionel<\/p>\n

Messi admitted that he had wanted to leave the club 12 months earlier, saying "honestly, last year with all the nonsense, I was convinced I knew what I wanted to say, but this year is not the same".<\/p>\n

"This year, my family and I were convinced that we were going to stay here, to stay at home, that's what we all wanted more than anything," he said. <\/p>\n

"We'd made this our home … the time we've had here has been amazing. Today, I have to say goodbye to all of this."<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old admitted that a number of clubs had reached out to him<\/a> in the wake of Barcelona's shock announcement on the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Lionel<\/p>\n

Messi said he had not settled on his next club yet despite reports linking him to French side Paris Saint Germain, but admitted PSG "is a possibility".<\/p>\n

Barcelona fans have been left heartbroken by the club legend's impending departure, and he left the door open for a potential return down the road.<\/p>\n

"After 21 years, I'm leaving with my wife, with my three little Catalan-Argentine kids, and I can't say in a few years that we won't come back because this is our home," he said.<\/p>\n

"[I would be open to a proper farewell] but it wouldn't be the same. The moment is now, when it's time to go, but obviously for these people I'm available."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I leave this club with not having seen the fans for a year and a half and if I'd have imagined [his departure], I'd imagine the Camp Nou full and being able to say goodbye properly, but it has to be this way. I'm so grateful for the love everyone has shown me over the years. <\/p>\n

"I hope that I can come back and be a part of this club at any moment, in any way and bring something to help this club be the best in the world."<\/p>\n

Messi spent nearly two decades with the Catalan club after arriving from Argentina as a teenager to play in its youth squads. <\/p>\n

He made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old in 2004, then played 17 seasons with the main squad. <\/p>\n

\"Lionel<\/p>\n

He helped the club win the Champions League four times, the Spanish league 10 times, the Copa del Rey seven times and the Spanish Super Cup eight times.<\/p>\n

Messi leaves as Barcelona's all-time leading scorer with 672 goals. He played in 778 matches with the club, also a record. He is also the overall top scorer in the Spanish league with 474 goals from 520 matches.<\/p>\n

He led the Spanish league in scoring in eight seasons, and was the top scorer in the Champions League six times. His 26 goals against Real Madrid are a record for the "clasico" matches against Barcelona's fiercest rival.<\/p>\n

– With AP<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tearful Lionel Messi has left the door open for a fairytale return to Barcelona before he retires, after La Liga rules forced him to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113606,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113604\/revisions\/113606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}