Messi gives tearful Barca farewell

MADRID, Spain (AP):

Lionel Messi began crying before he even started speaking. The “most difficult” moment of his career had arrived and he wasn’t ready for it.

It was time to say goodbye to Barcelona after more than two decades with the Catalan club.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to speak,” he said, while trying to compose himself during his farewell news conference at the Camp Nou stadium yesterday. “It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m leaving this club, that my life will be changing completely. It will be a difficult change for me and especially for my family. But we have to accept it and move on.”

Messi struggled to control his emotions and cried profusely as he stepped up to the podium at the Camp Nou.

“This is very hard for me after so many years, after being here my entire life,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared.”

BARCELONA IN DEBT

Messi said that, unlike last year when he asked to leave, he had his mind set on staying with Barcelona and did everything possible to make it happen, including reducing his salary by half. He said he was surprised to hear he wouldn’t be able to stay because of the club’s debt and the Spanish league’s financial fair-play regulations.

“In these last few days, I was thinking about what I would say today, but to be honest I couldn’t come up with anything. I was blocked, like I still am right now,” Messi said. “I was convinced that we would remain with the club, which is our home.”

Messi’s family and some of his teammates were at the Camp Nou for the emotional farewell. He was applauded several times by those in the audience.

The 34-year-old Messi avoided speaking specifically about his future, saying he received offers from several clubs after the announcement that he would leave the Catalan club. When asked about Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), considered the front runner to sign him, Messi admitted it was “a possibility”.

“At this moment I don’t have a deal with any club,” he said.

PSG have been in talks over the weekend with Messi’s team, trying to finalise a deal.

Sports daily L’Equipe reported on its website yesterday that Messi was to fly to Paris later that day to put the finishing touches on the deal, with a view to having a medical exam today.

An email from The Associated Press to PSG seeking to confirm the report was not immediately answered.

Messi said he hopes to return to Barcelona in some capacity one day, and that he wished he could have said goodbye to fans in a match with a capacity crowd chanting his name. He said it was sad to leave after not being able to play in front of fans for nearly a year and a half.

He said his best moment was his first-team debut in 2004, because “that’s when it all started”. He said he has “no regrets,” but believed he was part of a generation that should have won more UEFA Champions League titles.

Winning the Champions League again will remain one of his main goals, as well as closing the gap to former teammate Dani Alves as the most decorated player. The Brazilian defender won his 43rd title at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. Messi added that he has no immediate plans to retire.