Although it might seem that Leo Messi played for Barcelona not long ago, the legendary Argentine has been absent from Catalonia for over three years. The third anniversary of his departure from the club was in August this year. Both Messi and Blaugrana have changed a lot in the meantime. Despite constant financial problems and Xavi's turbulent term as coach, the club managed to win the national championship in the 2022/23 season. Messi, on the other hand, failed to win the Champions League in two years at Paris-Saint Germain and left Inter Miami last summer.
Slisz sent him on early vacation. Now Messi has assessed Barcelona
Now the Argentine is on vacation because his team was sensationally eliminated in the semi-finals of the MLS Eastern Conference. Despite winning the regular season, Inter lost in the aggregate against Atlanta United, and the goal that sealed it was scored by none other than Polish representative Bartosz Slisz. Barcelona has much more reasons to smile. The Catalans unexpectedly lost 0-1 to Real Sociedad before the last international break, but overall they are leading in the La Liga table, and in El Clasico they defeated Real Madrid 4-0 at the Bernabeu.
We can therefore suspect that Messi is proud of what he sees when he watches Hansi Flick's version of Barcelona. And that's exactly what it is. The Argentine spoke about the current Blaugrana team in the program “El nou clam”. This is a documentary series about the journey of musician David Caraben, who plans to compose a new club anthem on the occasion of Barcelona's 125th anniversary this year. Part of it has already been posted online. When asked about his current team, Messi had no doubts about what to answer.
Messi delighted with the current team and Flick. The German reacts
– A spectacular team, but that doesn't surprise me at all. It's a great pride to see who currently represents the first team. How many young players and graduates are there? It's great that they get so many chances to play. This was also the case during my career at Barcelona. When they can play in these colors, they react positively because they know him and what the club's philosophy is, and Flick allows them to do that – praised the team and the German coach Messi, quoted by the “Sport” daily.
The Argentine also declared that one day he could happily return to life in Catalonia and to the club. -We had to leave the city and Catalonia, but my children are Catalan. I've lived there all my life. “I feel like I come from Barcelona and returning to Barcelona is always on my mind,” Messi said. Messi's full interview with Caraben will be released on November 28.
Interestingly, Hansi Flick himself commented on the Argentine's words, specifically during the press conference before the match against Celta Vigo. – It's an honor for me to hear something like that from him. This shows that Messi still closely follows our matches. He still means a lot to the team and he has always really appreciated the young players in this club, said Flick. Barcelona will play Celta away on Saturday, November 22 at 9:00 p.m. Most likely with Robert Lewandowski in the squad, who has already recovered from a back injury from the match against Sociedad.