I agree, but I don't think this has anything to do with Messi but rather the crowds at Madrid and Bernabeu. CR7 was nowhere near being loved and deified in the Bernabeu as Messi was at the Camp Nou. CR7 would get booed at times, and many Madridistas, including officials at the club, got tired of his media antics to always get a new contract and the things he would spout to the media to pressure the club. They had no problem letting CR7 go, not so with Messi. Barcelona completely fell asleep at the wheel and thought they'd have Messi forever, no matter how terrible the club was handling its big money decisions to improve the team. So naturally, the reaction is going to be very different, and it's quite immature from Barcelona.
Lionel Messi
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This is quite interesting, I'd like to hear from @Daysleeper, @giorno how much turth this is since it is Guillem.
It makes sense. You cant be bullied into letting a 100m asset go on a free
He's probably from a country where the average temperature through the year is 30 degrees.
I’ve been told that Messi is in Manchester today, to talk to City’s directors and find a way for his transfer. News expected by this Friday. Someone who lives near me in Florida apparently has connections to City, this person is from Argentina.
bollocks. Talent doesn’t trump biology. He’ll be retired or a show pony in the MLS at 40.
So low from Messi if true. He should be focused on training with Barcelona and follow his contract.
Let his agent do the talk.
Bartomeu and Barcelona have to look like they don't want to sell for lots of reasons:
-It'll play badly in the 2021 elections if they are seen to have done anything other than have their hands completely tied in selling Messi
-It'll damage the board's legacy either way to have sold Messi, so appearing to have their hands completely tied is damage limitation from an egotistical standpoint
-It'll boost the amount of money they receive for Messi from the buying club, if they cement a position as unwilling sellers with an ironclad hand
-The more money they extract, the greater the rebuilding job they can do; losing Messi is bad, but really so bad if by next years' elections a whole host of new top quality replacements have them first in La Liga?
On the surface it appears like Bartomeu and the Barcelona board hold all the cards given Messi's release clause, but the truth is anything but. Their real options are:
-Keep Messi. He continues his strike, claiming that he can leave for free, and an extensive legal battle ensues. He is a running soap opera of a distraction for the entire season and kills morale within the entire club. The fans never turn on Messi due to his untouchable hero status and the unpopularity of the board, notwithstanding that Bartomeu is going back on his word from previous interviews where he said that Messi is a player who has earned the right to leave Barcelona when and how he likes. The board are voted out in 2021 and Messi leaves for nothing in summer 2021.
-Sell Messi. Bring in replacements and dress up the situation as an incredibly difficult one where the best possible decision for the club was made under the circumstances, life moving on in a new era with new talent.
Messi will leave shortly. In the meantime there will be lots of bluster and blagging from Bartomeu and the board as they try and dig the best possible result from a sh**pile.
-It'll play badly in the 2021 elections if they are seen to have done anything other than have their hands completely tied in selling Messi
-It'll damage the board's legacy either way to have sold Messi, so appearing to have their hands completely tied is damage limitation from an egotistical standpoint
-It'll boost the amount of money they receive for Messi from the buying club, if they cement a position as unwilling sellers with an ironclad hand
-The more money they extract, the greater the rebuilding job they can do; losing Messi is bad, but really so bad if by next years' elections a whole host of new top quality replacements have them first in La Liga?
On the surface it appears like Bartomeu and the Barcelona board hold all the cards given Messi's release clause, but the truth is anything but. Their real options are:
-Keep Messi. He continues his strike, claiming that he can leave for free, and an extensive legal battle ensues. He is a running soap opera of a distraction for the entire season and kills morale within the entire club. The fans never turn on Messi due to his untouchable hero status and the unpopularity of the board, notwithstanding that Bartomeu is going back on his word from previous interviews where he said that Messi is a player who has earned the right to leave Barcelona when and how he likes. The board are voted out in 2021 and Messi leaves for nothing in summer 2021.
-Sell Messi. Bring in replacements and dress up the situation as an incredibly difficult one where the best possible decision for the club was made under the circumstances, life moving on in a new era with new talent.
Messi will leave shortly. In the meantime there will be lots of bluster and blagging from Bartomeu and the board as they try and dig the best possible result from a sh**pile.
There always is though there really shouldnt' be. He's been in Barcelona since he was 13 and given Barcelona his entire peak and prime years.
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God is never at fault
You are so witty.
We´ll never see a player like him anymore.
Barca are truly lucky to witness such a player for so long, wish we had that with Ronaldo.
That’s what we say after every generational talent don’t we? Pele? Maradona? Cruyff? Zidane? Ronaldo 9? Ronaldo 7? Messi? There will always be someone else.
He won't go to prison for selling Messi ffs. Absolute clown of a man.
Yes, it’s really low from him. But agents are the ones who sometimes push players to do these shenanigans because they don’t want to respect contracts. As much as I despise Barca, I hope they stand their ground.
Greenwood
But Messi can switch between being the best striker and the best playmaker in the world. This combined with his longetivity is absolutely unique.
There’s really no reason for Barca to back down. They’ll fight this tooth and nail as there’s no alternative for them, it’s not as if they can cash in on him at all and cut their losses.
I’m sure they don’t want to watch their prized asset stroll off to that cheating sham of a club for nothing.
I’m sure they don’t want to watch their prized asset stroll off to that cheating sham of a club for nothing.
Take it to the ITK thread for feck sake or spoiler it at least.
What happens if Messi goes and signs for City? Can he just start from Day 1 as if Barca doesn't even exist.
Of course it´s only my opinion, don´t want to start a debate, but for me, he is better than Maradona who I watched play a lot. And his longevity and reinvention as a midfielder it´s incredible.
He can, but he will be sued and he might have to pay his 700 Million clause plus lawyer fees, etc.
I would never have thought that Messi and Barcelona relationship is so bad that he went into a strike.
Sad to see things coming this far
Sad to see things coming this far
Simply incredible video package. The contrast of the music with the goals. I welled up.
Sure, the Barca fans have huge issues with their board but how is Messi coming out of it looking like the good guy with the fans? or is he? Jumping off a sinking ship when they actually need him is now admirable? I don't get it. Someone please explain.
No, the board is insanely toxic. The entire city understands it. When puyol is applauding messi for leaving, and xavi turned down a return to the club this past January spoke volumes. Nobody wants to have anything to do with the current regime. They even hired a social media team of bots to bash the players and got caught for it. It's so pathetic. 99% of the fans are not mad at Messi. They just wish they could give him a proper send off.
The problem is that Messi and his team are arguing that his contract is no longer valid. He had a clause that makes him able to terminate the contract after 3 seasons (signed in 2017) but the big issue is that the contract stated that he needed to notify the team by June 10, 2020, end of the season. He couldn't do that since the season was still going on due to COVID. So his lawyers are arguing the wording did include "end of the season" while the club argues it specifies "June 10, 2020" hence the crap show we have now.
If Messi shows up for training it would legally mean he is still registered with the team and an employee. His lawyers intructed him not to attend as far as they are concerned he is no longer a player of the club. He's held hostage right now, but if the courts (although neither side wants to go to court) rule in Barca's favor, the team that takes Messi would retroactively have to pay his 700M release clause. If Messi wins, then he leaves for free, which devastating for Barca. Ideally, both sides (city and barca) will meet and sell Messi for 100M+ and that'll be that. Messi isn't looking to leave for free, his team has stated they would like Barca to receive compensation. But Barto has shut off the phones in the office so they cannot field any offers from Man City (look it up, I'm serious).
Messi isn't just trying to be petty, he and his team believe how the contract is worded, that he is a "free agent" so to speak.
i wonder if he’s still getting paid. I’m assuming he’ll be trying to stop Barca paying him and they’ll be insisting he take the money 
See my post above. And check this out from the superb article from the Athletic:
“You don’t know him,” the source replied. “I am sure that Bartomeu has wanted Messi to go. He has caused a big hole in the club’s finances and wants to fix it by selling Messi. If you get €200 million for Messi, and you save €100 million in salary, then next season’s accounts will balance. I would not rule out that this whole situation has been provoked by Bartomeu himself. Or by (former Barca president) Sandro Rosell. Bartomeu and Rosell are the closest of friends, they are a team.”
If Xavi and Puyol don't want to return to the club due to the board, even the fans now it's a very dicey situation. This is from another article, from an interview with Laporta who was president during the Pep golden years and will run for election again in March:
"I want him to stay in 2021 but I am scared that a bad decision of this board could result in an irreversible decision," Laporta said of Messi at an event at Sant Joan de Deu hospital on Wednesday.
"It's not BarcaGate, it's BartoGate, I am worried about how the status of the club is being put at risk."
Laporta, who is considering running for Barcelona president again, has also warned Xavi against returning to manage the club in its current state.
Bartomeu has declared Xavi will coach the Catalans "sooner or later" but the man himself has resisted initial calls to return until Barto resigns.
"If I was Xavi, I would never be back with this board," Laporta said.
I'll explain it as one of my Barcelona supporting friends told it to me after we spoke the evening of the 8-2 demolition. This was just his POV of course so it's not broad strokes, but here it is. Barcelona fans have had massive issues with this board for quite some time now. They believe this board is running the club into the ground. He even went so far as saying, after the demolition, that he knew it was coming, and in a sense he was glad it happened, as that would hopefully ensure that Barto can't continue his reign. With respect to Messi, he's given the club their most successful years in their history, and given them his entire career. They view his decision to leave as a natural consequence of the board running the club into the ground, and so hold no ill will at all towards him for doing what he has to do to try to leave the club.
Yes, the biggest thing for Barto is he is dying to sell as many players as possible due to the massive debt. If he resigns/leaves with the team in debt, he would be responible for a fair percentage of the debt (not all, but a good chunk). And that would be in the window of 100M euros as of today. Selling Messi would fix that, hence while on one hand Barto is being petty as he doesn't want to forever be known as "the man who lost Messi" but he also knows selling Messi and getting rid of his wages (transfer fee of 100M to city if they negotiate, plu saving an extra 90M on Messi's wages) would put the club back in the green and Barto off the hook.
Great video. Kinda crazy if he does actually leave.
Oh, believe me, God is pretty much at fault here.
Anyone that has read me in this thread or related ones knows how much I rated him and wanted him in our club, but if you're the best player in the world, and the best paid at the same time, holding a choke on the club's finances with your contract, you can't play the card of "I'll play for another year" in June and "I want to leave for free" 3 weeks before the season starts, that's a bomb for the club. Not the board, the whole institution.
And I don't even care about how right or wrong the board will be in this saga, Messi has been under 6 different presidents since he joined us, probably 8 different boards and so on, up until a week ago the unnegotiable things in this club were the badge, the stadium, Cruyff and Messi, what's two years of being worse on the UCL when the club has surrounded you with the best available (or the best you asked for) for 15 seasons? as much as he's given to the club, he's been paid handsomely to do so, and in the end, he's not in debt with the fans for anything, but he very well could've guided the club into a new era if he wanted too, he wants to bail? good for him, but it has repercussions on his legacy, he seems glad to accept them so, in the end, he says a lot about his personality and principles.
I think Barcelona's "personality and principles" are on full display here as much as Messi's
MES QUE UN CLUB
Please can any knowledgeable people about Barcelona recommend me 3 or 4 games from 2009/11 when were Barcelona at their very very best?
ie: evidence of the best club football team ever.
does that include their victory over us in ECL final?
ie: evidence of the best club football team ever.
does that include their victory over us in ECL final?
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It's good for the discussion to see another POV considering the ones I've been getting have been different.
At least he can put his comments here. On the reddit forum, you are forced to praise Messi and abuse Barca. Else get heavily downvoted and thrown out.
Does it need to be 10/11? Away to Arsenal in the CL in 09/10 was a sublime performance. The first half was one of the biggest doings I've ever seen a team take.
The CL win over United in 10/11 would be included, yeah.
The 5-0 Clasico in 10/11 would be another.
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