Proclaimed Ronald Koeman last saturday what «This Barça is not here to win many things», referring to the sports reconstruction process after a 2019-20 season in which the team and the club hit rock bottom and the current complicated situation, without a president waiting for the March 7 elections and without money to pay 5 million euros for a defensive winter reinforcement such as Eric Garcia (Manchester City), requested by the technician. His sincerity is admirable, but many criticized him without knowing that hours later the events were going to prove him right with the leak and the publication with all the luxurious details of Messi’s multimillion-dollar contract.
Too much instability even for the calm of the Dutch. The possibility that the Barça team ends up fighting for a title passes through the boots and the motivation of the Argentine, who ends his contract on June 30 and who they want to blame for the financial ruin of the club. The ’10’, indecipherable as always, however, answered as he knows best. Without words, but with a goal from a free kick in the victory against Athletic and with about 60 minutes at the level of the great days of his wonderful career. With such a performance and attitude, the Barcelona fans will never blame him for anything.
Koeman came out in defense of Messi with a forcefulness that surely the ’10’ thanked: “In the publication of Messi’s contract there is very bad intention. You have to look at what Messi has done at this club. He has been proving everything for years and helping this club to make it big and win titles. This is the important thing, the rest is nonsense. The leak? If it is someone within the club it is something very bad. Whoever has leaked this cannot have a future in this club.
Between the reactions, unot that it gets out of the way, like former president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who sent a written message to a TV3 program in which it was hinted that he was behind the leak to deny it and threaten to bring to trial whoever follows that line. Seeing the social support that Messi received in the hours after the information, Joan Laporta, Víctor Font and Toni Freixa, the three candidates for the presidency, ran to declare that “Messi is not ruining Barça.”
Laporta’s message
The first, pulling stripes as former president and as a favorite, revealed that he had already sent him a message of support and announced that he was going to do everything possible to make him stay. Of course, without looking at the contract signed in 2017, it is difficult to know how they will pay Messi what he would ask for in this new contract in a situation of economic catastrophe due to the pandemic.
2-1 against Athletic places Barça second by better overall goal difference than Real Madrid, although with the particular average ‘lost, at least for now until the Valdebebas classic is played. Atlético rides too far to aspire to hunt him down, but the month of January has been fruitful for a Barça team, which has won the 15 points at stake and will play this Wednesday the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey in Granada to a single match.
Koeman wants union inside and outside, but there is no way. And less so in an electoral process with growing tension between the candidates Joan Laporta, Víctor Font and Toni Freixa, even between the president of the Management Board, Carlos Tusquets, who has taken the pleasure of seeing his name daily in the media. The coach does not trust anyone and prefers to promote unity in the dressing room, something that is on the right track seeing the happy collective celebration of Griezmann’s 2-1 on Sunday at the Camp Nou.
In sports, in addition to recover the injured Sergi Roberto, has achieved reactivate Samuel Umtiti despite that left knee that threatened to end his career. The Frenchman has seated his compatriot Lenglet on the bench.
.
