Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has made her mark on La Sexta and talked about a number of topics, from her participation in Barcelona to the end of the season to her long career in football.
Messi told journalist Jordi Evole that he made an attempt to request a move in January, but that he would withdraw from his contract with Barcelona at the end of the season (h/t Dermot Corrigan of The Athletic):
“I need to wait until the end of the season. I’m just thinking about finishing the season well, winning trophies, not worrying about anything else. . . I’ll do what’s most productive for me and the club – with my center and my head. When I finish as a player, I need to live in Barcelona again, have a role in the club . . . I’ve dreamed of playing in some other league in America. , they deserve not to do it right away. Today, I’m only focusing on the next six months.
Messi also said that former President Josep Maria Bartomeu had cheated on him several times and leaked data to the media to make him look bad. The Argentine had been telling Bartomeu for six months that he wanted to leave before the summer crash when Messi tried to leave. leave the club.
But he said he felt more settled in Barcelona after a convulsive summer, he did not hesitate to report the disorders to the club.
“These days I feel good. I had a hard time last summer with the Burofax and all that, and before. But now I feel good, excited to fight for everything ahead of us. But the club is going through complicated moments”, the team too, everything in Barca is complicated . . . I know things in Barca are wrong. It’s going to be hard to get back to where we were. “
One of messi’s resolutions annoyed him by the club’s resolve to leave Luis Suarez, who ended up at Atletico Madrid.
“It’s crazy to let Luis Suarez go away for free, pay two years of his contract and go on to see a rival fight for the same things as Barca,” he said (h/t Corrigan).
To the delight of Manchester City’s love of the year, Messi also spoke of Pep Guardiola, with whom in the past he worked at Barca:
“I’m talking to Pep, how things are going in the City, what things are there. But not boxed in combination again. I don’t know when we last talked . . . Pep is the most productive for the way he has matches ready, offensively. and defensively, how he had to attack to win matches. I imagine after Pep I knew everything, but then Luis Enrique came along and taught me even more new things. “
Messi, however, praised his coach, Ronald Koeman.
“With Koeman, things got more serious, there’s a concept for the team and the club,” he said (h/t Corrigan). “It’s a very smart date; it’s complicated with new players and young players, but the team is getting better. “
It turns out that Messi’s stage at Barcelona is coming to an end, whether the 33-year-old ends up at Man City or some other club, it will be to see Messi with a new kit, the legendary striker has spent his entire career in Barcelona.
But he’s not wrong when he says the club is in a time of transition. The club is 5th in the La Liga standings, 8 editions of Atletico Madrid (which also has an ongoing match). It was something Messi had noticed, taking a position before the season.
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy to leave the club of my life, it wouldn’t be easy anywhere else, new city, new weather. My circle of relatives didn’t need to leave,” he said (h/t Corrigan). But I felt it better at that time for everyone, for me, the club, the cycle is over. “