Messi: fourth storm and fifth Champions

Messi poses with the 35 trophies he won with Barcelona FCB

In his 20 years at Barcelona, ​​Leo Messi had dodged three great bitter moments. In 2014, when Tito Vilanova convinced him not to leave. "Where are you going? To PSG? Nowhere are you going to be better than here ”, warned Vilanova, who died a few days later. Two years later, he also considered leaving the Barça club after his problems with the Treasury. “They were cruel to me. I didn't want to leave Barça, but rather to leave Spain. I felt very mistreated and did not want to be here any longer ”, confessed Messi. And in 2020, after the embarrassing defeat in the Champions League against Bayern (2-8). “I asked the president to let me go. He lied to me, "said the 10th. He never left. “In the end”, explain those who know the Rosario, “every time he had thought about leaving, he would arrive at the Sports City and meet Pepe Costa,Piqué played a joke on him and he realized that he was at home ”. He could not, however, haggle the fourth storm.

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The Barça routine did not overwhelm 10, on the contrary.

“A lot of things go through my head, I'm a bit blocked.

I do not fall into the reality that I am going to leave this place, this club, that I have to change my life completely.

I've been in the first team for 16 years.

Now I have to start from scratch ”, explained the Argentine forward.

When Laporta confirmed last Thursday that there was no longer a place for him at the Camp Nou, Messi received a visit from Sergio Busquets, Barcelona's second captain, at his home.

Later he met with his father Jorge, who had been speaking with Joan Laporta until the club sent the statement saying goodbye to Rosario.

“When the statement came out I had several calls from interested clubs. There is still nothing closed, but we are talking, "said Messi in his farewell speech. “Is PSG one of the interested parties?” They asked the 10. “Yes”, he replied; "But at this point I have nothing with anyone." His father was not present at his son's farewell at the Camp Nou. And, while Messi explained his goodbye to Barcelona, ​​the Paris club sent the first formal offer to the Rosario striker. According to the French newspaper

L'Équipe

, the proposal is for two years, plus an optional third, and the salary is 40 million net per year, so he would become the highest paid footballer of PSG.

No problem for his friend Neymar.

"What I want most is to play with Messi again and enjoy with him again on the pitch," says the São Paulo player.

The man from Rosario had already had to listen to his friend Neymar on Monday in the Balearic Islands.

“He had spoken with Di María and Paredes - his teammates in the Argentine team - to meet us in Ibiza.

Ney also called me and told me he was there too.

We meet and have dinner, ”said the 10th. Marco Verratti joined the event.

Dani Alves' record

"They told me about going to Paris as a joke," revealed the 10. By then, Messi had already agreed to his contract with Barcelona and was going to sign it on Thursday. The meeting was made public after Neymar uploaded a photo on social networks. “It was a coincidence. It was given a lot of importance, but there was nothing unusual. A photo between friends who were on vacation ”, he completed.

If 10 accepts PSG's offer - the lawyers are reviewing it - Messi will be surrounded by good friends, but also by a competitive team that can allow him to achieve the desire to win his fifth Champions League. “The people of Barça know me, they know that I am a winner and I want to continue competing. I want to continue like this, adding titles, ”said Messi, who raised 38 cups (35 with Barcelona and three with Argentina) and is five behind his former teammate Dani Alves, who is 43 after winning Olympic gold in Tokyo against Spain. The Brazilian is the footballer with the most titles in history.

“I still have the thorn of having won another Champions League.

We were very close in the semi-final against Liverpool [in 2019, they fell 4-0 in the second leg after winning 3-0 at Camp Nou] and in the semi-final against Chelsea with Pep [in 2012, Messi missed a penalty in the tie to two in Barcelona, ​​after losing 1-0 in London] ”, recalled Messi.

And he insisted: “My goal is to continue winning some Champions League and try to catch Dani [Alves].

I'm going to try to get closer, at least ”.

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