2-8 will not be the last game with Barcelona. The burofax will not be the farewell to the club of his life. There will be more goals after the goal against Napoli. A goodbye can be organized according to his greatness, a tribute at the Camp Nou and in all fields, for all rivals, if the pandemic allows it. The senyera’s bracelet will remain on his left arm, except for a change in the template. There will be one more season. There will be one last blaugrana dance. Time will tell if Eibar-Barça on the last day of the next league will be their last game.
Messi stays. Once again the news broke in Argentina, his native country, where his roots are still well established. Despite the fact that Buenos Aires and Rosario are five hours less than in Barcelona, there they were always ahead in the case. They knew first that Leo had made the decision to leave, they learned about the arrival of the burofax before anyone else, they had their father’s flight plan outlined to the point of broadcasting the takeoff of the plane and they revealed the content of face-to-face meetings with details thorough.
Nobody comes out unscathed
Messi wanted to break his contract and has not trained for five days; Bartomeu offered to withdraw and has a motion against
At 3:04 p.m. yesterday, TyC Sports gave the exclusive. While in Spain, the letter that Jorge Messi addressed to Javier Tebas was still being discussed and analyzed in detail in the LaLiga statement on August 30. At that time, the Goal.com interview was already cooking. But the Messi did not want to miss the opportunity to throw the dart because of the old quarrels.
The burofax of August 25 opened ten days marked by fury, drama, surprises, anger, disenchantment and much debate. On the 20th Messi met with Koeman and told him that he looked more outside than inside Barcelona. Advised by Cuatrecases, the crack communicated that he wanted to leave, that he was taking advantage of the release clause and breaking his contract. Quickly, the club went to look at the agreement signed in 2017 and saw that the clause had expired since June 10.
What Josep Maria Bartomeu could not prevent is that the next morning a motion of censure was started against him. In desperation, while it was known that the footballer had called Guardiola to join City, the president pulled an ace up his sleeve. “If I am the problem for Messi to continue, I withdraw,” offered Bartomeu, on the condition that the Argentine break his silence and that his board exhaust the mandate. Messi continued locked in his anger. The player, hurt by the directive for not respecting the word given – as was clear in the interview with Goal -, did not join the training sessions. On Sunday 30 he did not appear for the PCR test, something that the club already knew from another burofax. On Monday he skipped the first preseason session under Koeman. So far, he’s already five days late.
Everything accelerated with the arrival of Jorge Messi to Barcelona. The player’s father and representative met with Bartomeu. From the summit, in which no one gave his arm to twist, the ten understood that either he paid 700 million or went to trial. It was time to back down and explain his truth. Messi’s environment chose the Goal.com portal – English media – for having a presence in 127 countries, and for its neutrality in the dichotomy of the press, including between Argentina and Catalonia. The interview was published at 6:00 p.m. in Barcelona, 5:00 p.m. in London and 1:00 p.m. in Buenos Aires. It took 18 minutes and 40 seconds, with 14 questions, many headlines … and an image.
In The last dance Michael Jordan was leaning back in an armchair, smartly dressed, in a suit, with a whiskey on the table and sometimes even smoking a very long cigar. Nothing to do with Messi’s scenery in the interview. Two white chairs, social distance between him and the journalist, and clothes to go around the house. White flip flops, a red shorts and a black T-shirt. The important thing was the words.
