Lionel Messi is the best football player of today and for many in history. He won the World Cup, the Golden Ball, The Best award... as much championship has been put in front of him. And these days he kept fans around the planet in suspense until he finally announced that his future will not be in Barcelona or Saudi Arabia – where he was offered a contract that would make him the best paid athlete of all time – but in the United States, with the Inter Miami shirt.
For all those things, his name was the news of the day in most newspapers, regardless of borders, because it is known, football transcends any limit. Less in Spain.
Yes, in the country that enjoyed him the most, that saw him grow, that saw him resignify every play and score with a ball in his magic left, the news of Messi to Inter Miami was almost ignored by the main media, not to mention the Madrid sports press, where a signing, that of the English Jude Bellingham, totally overshadowed the announcement of the Flea that marks the end of its era in European football.
Covers of sports newspapers Sport and Mundo Deportivo featuring Lionel Messi are seen on a newsstand on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain, June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Albert Gea
Only the newspapers Sport and Mundo Deportivo, more associated with the blaugrana sentiment, reflected the news with all the weight of their covers, giving an account of the uneasiness in Barcelona for the decision of the Flea. "I'm going to Miami," is the headline shared by both media, which together did the exclusive interview in which Messi announced his decision to move to Miami.
The cover of Sport with the report to Messi.
Mundo Deportivo also traveled to Paris to interview the 10.
The football rift with Madrid made, incredibly, that both Marca and As did not give almost importance to the decision of Messi, considered the stone in the shoe of the merengue team for years.
They did not even reflect that he will not return to LaLiga. Instead, there was another player who overshadowed the Argentine captain. This is Jude Bellingham, the English midfielder, who is the new and millionaire signing of the white team, for a sum close to 100 million euros. "Welcome Bellingham," Marca headlines in English. "Welcome," says As.
Both put small boxes with Messi's words. "Messi chooses Inter Miami!" says Marca. "Messi, to Miami", completes As.
Marca put on its cover the English Bellingham, who will play at Real Madrid.
As also bet on the arrival of the English footballer, from Borussia Dortmund.
The general press also did not highlight the news on its covers. Neither El País, nor El Mundo or even La Vanguardia, a newspaper published in Barcelona, put Lionel among their main titles.
El País gives him a cover frieze, after a controversy over the exhibition Bodies, of real human remains, which always becomes a topic of debate in every city he visits in the world. Next to him, a cold title about the Argentine star. "Messi discards Barcelona and chooses Inter Miami," he says.
The cover of the newspaper El País, with a small place destined for Messi.
El Mundo does not directly give the news on its cover in any of the 10 issues that it carried on the cover. As Brand and Ace, they put Bellingham and the 100 million euros of his pass as the main sporting news.
Messi, absent from the cover of the newspaper El Mundo, from Spain.
Not even La Vanguardia gives Leo's move a privileged place on its cover. Just the first side box, with a black background and a photo of Messi with his head down. "Messi in his goodbye: 'I really wanted to return'", is the text they reply.
La Vanguardia, from Barcelona, dedicated a secondary place to Leo's announcement.
The three main Spanish newspapers agree to put as a cover photo the terrible floods in Ukraine, product of the explosion in a dam in Kherson, which almost erases several cities from the map.
La Razón, another of the newspapers sold in Spanish newsstands, does not mention La Pulga either. The same ABC, nothing Messi.
La Razón, without Messi on its cover.
ABC also did not reflect the novelty of the break between Messi and Barcelona.
El Periódico, Barcelona's generalist newspaper, is strikingly the one that gives more relevance in all the Spanish non-sports press to the news of Messi. With a medium photo, it shows the Argentine idol with a diary in his hand and his announcement: "I'm going to Inter Miami to get out of focus," he says.
The cover of El Periódico, the day after Messi's announcement.
