First of all, Messi isn’t just “a player,” so stop repeating this tired cliché about “putting the club ahead of a player” as if we’re talking about some random footballer who spent one season here at the club. We’re talking about the GOAT.
Nobody asked Barça to destroy its finances for Leo. The issue is how Laporta handled the situation after campaigning on keeping Messi, using Messi’s name and the promise of keeping him to help win the election, giving him hope, then suddenly announcing his exit.
Messi loved Barça like no one else. He wanted to stay. He was asked to accept a 50% pay cut to stay and agreed immediately. He thought he was coming back from holidays to sign his new contract, only to be told that Barça could not renew him. Imagine the shock. After spending practically his entire life at the club and believing everything was agreed, suddenly he was told it was over. Messi was even willing to make further sacrifices to stay, even play for free.
And then, on the same night Messi was dealing with the shock of being told he had to leave the club he loved, Laporta was meeting with Florentino Perez. To make things worse, Alemany being one of the main figures reportedly pushing Laporta against renewing Messi tells you everything you need to know.
Imagine trusting an idiot like Laporta, a man who at one point put his full trust in Alemany and Florentino Perez, two people who are now doing everything against Barça’s interests. Alemany is now at Atletico standing in the way of the Julian Alvarez transfer, he's at a small club like Atleti helping even destroy Barcelona's image, while Florentino Perez at Real Madrid have spent the last two seasons attacking Barça over a madeup case, making things up and using every connection and influence they have, in Spain and outside Spain, to drag Barcelona’s name through the mud and destroy the club’s reputation. And you expect me to trust Laporta? Imagine Laporta being close to the devil in Madrid himself during that period. That alone says everything.
You want me to trust Laporta’s version over Messi’s words? The same Laporta who was sitting down having dinner with Perez and working alongside Alemany the same period Messi was kicked out of Barcelona? Over Messi, who loved Barça like no one else, accepted a massive pay cut, wanted to stay and only wanted to keep giving everything to this club? Absolutely fking not. I know whose words I trust.
And stop hiding everything behind CVC deal. Laporta knew the financial situation and La Liga regulations long before August 2021. He knew what he was inheriting when he ran for president, yet still publicly acted like Messi is 100% staying. Then after Messi left, Laporta used practically every lever in the world to find money and sign players, so suddenly everything stopped because of the CVC deal when it came to Messi? I don't buy that excuse.
And even when there was a chance to bring Messi back in 2023 and finally fix what happened in 2021, Laporta simply didn't even try. Instead, he was bringing in players like Gundogan paying him over 20m a season. So don't tell me there was absolutely nothing Laporta could have done. He had another chance to fix things and instead somehow made the situation even worse. At some point you have to accept the obvious: keeping Messi, and later bringing him back, simply wasn't enough of a priority for Laporta.
Calling out Laporta for the disgraceful way Messi’s departure was handled isn't “putting Messi above Barça.”
And here's the part people conveniently forget: Laporta is NOT Barça. Criticizing a president is not criticizing the club. You keep preaching “the club comes first” while defending one president as if HE is the club. The irony is hilarious.
Again, fk Laporta and every fan who keeps desperately trying to defend this pig and pretend that criticizing him means criticizing Barça.
At this point, I refuse to believe @FCBarcelona simply “forgot” to post about Lionel Messi. This has Joan Laporta written all over it.
Messi has just said goodbye to the Argentina national team, one of the most emotional moments of his career, and Barça’s official account has said absolutely NOTHING. Bayern Munich and PSG posted about him. The NBA posted about him. Mourinho thanked him. Clubs, athletes and organizations with no real connection to Messi understood how important this moment was, but the club where he spent most of his life somehow stayed completely silent?
I’m sorry, but I don’t buy that this was accidental.
It genuinely feels like someone made the decision not to acknowledge him, and I would be shocked if Laporta had nothing to do with it.
There is no way the people running Barcelona’s social media do not understand what Messi means to this club and its supporters. You don’t need to explain Lionel Messi’s relationship with Barcelona to people working for FC Barcelona.
This is a man who arrived in the city as a child, grew up at the club, built his life and family there and spent more than two decades representing this badge. Barcelona was his home, and despite everything that happened to him, he has never stopped speaking about the club with love and affection.
And yet, on a day like this, silence.
That is what makes me so angry. Whatever personal issue Laporta has with Messi should have absolutely NOTHING to do with the institution acknowledging one of the most emotional moments of his career. FC Barcelona does not belong to Joan Laporta. Messi’s history with Barça does not belong to Joan Laporta either.
That history belongs to the club and to the millions of culés who lived it with him.
Messi never disrespected Barça. He never stopped loving the club. He was the one who left in tears when he wanted to stay, and even years later you can still hear the emotion whenever he talks about Barcelona.
So if this silence really is coming from Laporta, it is beyond pathetic.
Imagine allowing your personal relationship with Messi to become so important that Bayern Munich and even the freaking NBA show him more public affection on a day like this than FC BARCELONA does.
That is embarrassing.
For an entire generation of supporters, Messi is inseparable from Barcelona. We grew up watching him. Some of our happiest memories supporting this club came because of him. His connection with Barça goes far beyond whoever happens to be sitting in the president’s office today.
Laporta will eventually leave. Presidents always do.
Messi’s place in Barcelona’s history will remain forever.
And if Laporta really is the reason the club has stayed silent today, then this is one of the most petty and disgraceful things I have seen from this board.
Messi deserved acknowledgment from HIS club.
Not silence because of one man’s ego.