Lionel Messi’s brother Matias has hit out at Barcelona, claiming “no one knew” the club before the Argentina captain played there and ruling out a return to Camp Nou for the World Cup winner.
Matias Messi answered questions from fans on his son’s twitch account about Messi and Barca, but the comments have since been removed.
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ESPN contacted Lionel Messi’s representatives and they distanced themselves from Matias Messi’s statements, stating that “they are solely the personal and personal opinion of Matías, which need not be or coincide with that of Leo or other relatives, friends or people. close to him”.
Messi, 35, spent 20 years at Barcelona and helped the club win 35 trophies.
Despite agreeing a contract extension, Barcelona were mired in financial crisis and were unable to keep hold of their all-time top scorer, a decision that prompted Messi to join Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021 on a free transfer.
“Barcelona started to become known because of Messi because before nobody knew it, he knew it [Real] Madrid… That they would do [re]paying him like that is not good,” said Matias Messi.
According to Matias, it is obvious to “those who had the opportunity to travel to Barcelona and enter the Barcelona museum, it is the Messi museum. I say all this so you can see what comes out of our guts”.
While there has been speculation that Lionel Messi, who becomes a free agent in June, will consider a return to Barca, his brother says it won’t happen.
Matias said: “I have a newspaper clipping from [Barcelona-based sports newspaper] Sports stuck on the wall of my house the headline “Messi must return to Barcelona” and underneath I put “ha, ha, ha”. We are not going back to Barcelona.”
Matias added that should Messi and his family return, “we would do a good cleaning, among them [Barcelona president] Joan Laporta”.
Laporta described the decision to let Messi go as “the hardest he has ever taken” but said he “didn’t regret it because the club always comes first”.
Matias said Laporta was “ungrateful” considering “everything Messi has given Barcelona”, while also criticizing Barca supporters.
“People didn’t support him,” Matias said. People should have taken to the streets and rallied for Laporta to leave and Messi to stay. [in Spain] they do nothing, they are all traitors.’
Lionel Messi arrived at Barcelona as a teenager. During his time at Camp Nou, he became the club’s appearance record holder and top scorer, scoring 672 times in 778 matches. He won four Champions Leagues and 11 LaLiga titles and was named the best player in the world on six occasions while at Barca.
While he is out of contract with PSG this summer, sources have told ESPN that both parties have agreed in principle for him to continue his stay at the French champions.
This report used information from ESPN’s Jordi Blanco.