Lionel Messi envisaged spending his entire career at Barcelona and now has a greater appreciation of the remarkable memories he created at Camp Nou.
Messi left Barca in 2021 after his contract expired and the club’s financial problems meant he was unable to sign a new one.
He joined Paris Saint-Germain and spent two years in the French capital before opting to leave Europe and sign a deal with Inter Miami.
Messi won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and seven Copas del Rey with Barcelona in a glittering spell but was never afforded a proper send-off due to the Covid pandemic.
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Barcelona exit was a little weird, says Messi
In an interview with Diario Sport, conducted two weeks before Messi made a surprise visit to his old stomping ground on Sunday night, he said: “I had a strange feeling after I left, because of how everything happened, because of how I ended up playing my last years without people [in the crowd], because of the pandemic.
“After the life I had there, I didn’t leave as I imagined, as I dreamed. I imagined, as I said, playing my entire career in Europe, in Barcelona and then yes, coming here as I did, because it was my thought, what I wanted.
“The farewell was a little weird, because of the situation, because of everything. But I think that people’s affection will always be there, for what I did, for everything we’ve been through.”
I can now appreciate what we did – Messi
The Argentina international scored 672 goals in 778 appearances for the Blaugrana but admits he didn’t always get chance to appreciate what he was doing at the time.
“The truth is that I really miss all those moments,” he added. “Maybe I enjoy it more now than at the time when things happened, because of the day-to-day dynamics and what is involved in playing game after game and thinking about the next game without being able to enjoy what we were doing.”
Asked to recall his happiest moment at Barcelona, he said: “It’s hard to stay with one. Thank God I was lucky enough to live many moments.
“I don’t know, usually when we talk about happiness we go to the titles, the achievements, the important things we have achieved. But the first sextuple with Guardiola [in 2009] was extraordinary, the last Champions League with Luis Enrique too. I don’t know, it’s hard to stay with one moment.”
Messi and his family left Argentina for Catalonia when he was 13 and he retains huge affection for the city itself.
“I am grateful to God for having taken me to that place when I was a child and also, with the birth of my children in the city and with the whole club and the city in general because I left [Argentina] as a child, I grew up and spent my whole life there,” he said.
“We miss Barcelona a lot. The children continuously, and my wife, talk about things regarding Barcelona, the idea of living there again. We have our house, everything, so that’s what we want.”
Things are more relaxed in Miami
Now 38, Messi is enjoying life in Florida without being under constant scrutiny as he was in Europe.
“We enjoy the day to day in a different way, more relaxed, without so much pressure, without having the expectation,” he said.
“Obviously, we want [to win] but the pressure is different and that makes it more relaxed too and we enjoy more about the family, the boys, being able to come after training, to be able to have them come to the games, to spend much longer at home, to get home and not think so much about soccer and think more about something else.
“That makes you live in a different way because it happened to me many times that the result and the day to day controlled my spirits a little and well, sometimes I came home grumpy and it was different, so we are fine here.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com
