Full transcript of Lionel Messi points to Barcelona after “brutal” transfer saga

Lionel Messi has broken the silence on his Barcelona transfer saga in an explosive interview.

After telling the club that he wanted an immediate exit, Messi’s father Jorge came to the crisis talks this week.

Messi has locked himself in a dispute with the club over the termination clause in his contract with LaLiga, which is also entering the line.

With Barcelona refusing to let him go, Messi has announced that he will remain at Camp Nou to avoid a legal battle with the club where he has spent his entire career.

Here is everything he said in a revealing first interview about his situation in which he pointed to President Josep Maria Bartomeu for not keeping his word.

Complete interview with Lionel Messi

Via Goal

About why he wanted to leave

“I told the club, including the president (Josep Maria Bartomeu), that I wanted to go. I’ve been telling you all year. I thought it was time to step aside.

“I thought that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time at Barcelona was over. I was very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.

“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new ambitions.

“He did not come because of the result of the Champions League against Bayern, no, he had been thinking about the decision for a long time.

“I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.”

On the family reaction and its role

“When I communicated my wish to go to my wife and children, it was a brutal drama. The whole family began to cry, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, ​​nor did they want to change schools.

“But I looked further and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete.

“At least compete for it and not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon. All of this made me think about that decision I wanted to make.

“Mateo is still little and he doesn’t realize what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere.

“Thiago, he’s older. He heard something on TV and found out something and asked.

“I didn’t want him to know anything about being forced to leave, having to live in a new school or making new friends.

“He cried to me and said ‘let’s not go’. I repeat that it was hard, really.

“It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision.

“I love Barcelona and I’m not going to find a better place than here anywhere. Still, I have the right to decide. I was going to look for new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could come back, because here in Barcelona I have everything.

“My son, my family, they grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed him, the club needed him and it was good for everyone.”

“My wife, with all the pain in her soul, supported and accompanied me.”

About release clause and contractual dispute

“I thought and was sure that I was free to go, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide whether to stay or not.

“Now they hold on to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for La Liga in the midst of this terrible coronavirus and this disease was altered all season.

“And that is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way out was to pay the clause of 624 million pounds, and that this is impossible” .

“There was another way and it was to go to court. I would never go to court against Barça because it is the club that I love, which has given me everything since I arrived.

“It is the club of my life, I have made my life here. Barça gave me everything and I gave everything. I know it never crossed my mind to take Barça to the pitch.”

In the future

“Actually, now I don’t know what will happen.

“There is a new coach and new ideas. That’s fine, but then we have to see how the team responds and whether or not we are going to compete at the highest level.

“What I can say is that I’m staying and I’m going to do my best for Barcelona.

“I will continue at Barça and my attitude will not change no matter how much I have wanted to go. I’ll do my best.

“I always want to win, I’m competitive and I don’t like to lose anything. I always want the best for the club, for the dressing room and for myself.”

“I always put the club first. I had the chance to leave Barça many times. Every year I could have gone and made more money than at Barcelona. I always said that this was my home and it was what I felt and feel.

“Deciding that there was a better place than here was difficult. I felt like I needed a change and new goals, new things.”

About the media response

“It has hurt me a lot that things are published against me and above all, that false things are published. Or that they have come to think that I could go to trial against Barça to benefit myself.

“I would never do such a thing. I repeat, I wanted to leave and it was all my right, because the contract said that they could release me. And it’s not, ‘I’m leaving and that’s it.’ I left and it cost me a lot.

“I wanted to go because I was thinking of living happily my last years of football. Lately I have not found happiness within the club.

“But I was hurt by the things I heard from people, from journalists, from people who questioned my commitment to Barcelona and said things that I don’t think I deserve. It also helped me to see the truth in people.

“This world of football is very difficult and there are a lot of fake people. This has helped me to recognize a lot of fake people. It hurt when my love for this club was questioned.”

“No matter how much I stay or go, my love for Barça will never change.”