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From great to ridiculous: one step. But Lionel Messi, yesterday not only the best footballer on the planet, but also a man with an unblemished reputation, managed to overcome this distance in just one month. Now the Barça idol seems more like a laughingstock. Especially in the eyes of the fans on the other side. And his official decision to stay is more like the cry of despair of a cornered person than the intuition of a person who prays and who finally saw the smile of the Almighty.
The captain and soul of Barcelona chose the wrong time to leave. Failure in the Spanish championship, still no literary epithet at 2: 8 in the quarterfinals of Bayern’s Champions League, chaos in the club’s management model – in such conditions, this is not a way out. This is an escape. Sorry, this is cowardice. A footballer of Messi’s caliber deserved to leave gracefully. Or at least the way his main antagonist, Cristiano, left Real Madrid: in English. Ronaldo left the Royal Club as the winner of the Champions League trophy three times in a row. Well remember. Then there was the prostration on the face of Florentino Pérez, and Juventus. Now feel the difference when Leo left. Yes, there was much more prostration and bewilderment, added to a suicidal hue on Josep Bartomeu’s face. But, unlike Kri Ro, Messi left in a Jewish way: that is, he said goodbye for a long time, but never left. Like, “I’ll never sue the club in my entire life, so I’m staying.”
Yes, so we all believed it at once, shed tears and rushed to buy his shirts. Unfortunately, there is very little sincerity left in this Hollywood story by any means. The infernal machine called burofax grinds it, sincerity, like walnuts in a blender, leaving only heartburn for the spies. Spoons were found, but the sediment still remained, this fits our story exactly. After all, “that’s why I’m staying” happened due to the fact that someone (and we all know who) just didn’t want to pay for the “substitute for the God of Soccer on Earth.” And we are not talking about the payment of the clause – the notorious 700 million euros, but about the banal, as for that case the amount of 150 million plus footballers not very necessary. ManCity reasonably considered that they did not need stellar hemorrhoids at this stage. His are more than enough: the one who sits on the coaches’ bench, promising to win the Champions League for a consecutive year.
Yes, Leo leaving in such a situation would really be an escape. But a little later it was understood. And even forgive. Because his decision to stay seems even worse.
When Messi was still trying to go beyond the legal nuances of his contract with the forehead, if you look at it, of the footballers of his local team, only two of them publicly supported their captain: Suárez and Vidal. The rest raised water to their mouths. Including the “senators” – Piquet and Busquets. It can be assumed, and with great daring, that the situation with the constant efforts of Leo even got a person as tolerant and patient as Busquets. He understands better than all of you and I that Messi has gone from being Barcelona’s trump card to his main burden. 0: 3 in Rome, 0: 4 in Anfield, 2: 8 in Bayern; in all these and many other cases, Barcelona formally played against Leo, but in fact, without him. His effective actions in such head-on encounters are zero point, zero tenths. Not to mention that with the phlegmatism of a sacred cow it is allowed not to participate in the peer pressure. In other words, in the previous cases, Barça de facto had one less player. And in those episodes when Suárez “defended” his ranks, then immediately minus two. In the hours when the high pressure of the group rises to the rank of almost “Our Father”, such an artificial “castration” of the once best team in the world seems an unaffordable luxury. Rudiment. All the coaches who sat behind Pep at the Camp Nou as hosts understood the problem perfectly, but could not solve it. There were not enough eggs. Therefore, Messi played as he wanted. That is to say, against the conventional “Alavés” and the invariably fabulous Zagreb “Dinamo”, but when he came across someone a little more powerful and faster, like the “Sevilla”, his enthusiasm disappeared. Yes, Koeman seems a giant in the context of Valverde and especially of Setién; a person with character and opinion. But in this case, it’s not about the coach, it’s about the footballer: now hardly anyone can force Messi to do the hard work. This is not a royal issue. Furthermore, the king is already 33 years old.
It seems that Lionel’s next season at Barça will functionally be the same as the previous one: I play as I want and you play as the coach says.
But even this is not the most important thing. And the saddest thing in our history. “More than a club” for Messi, is cheesy “less than a team.” Even if Koeman decides to break Lionel “over the knee”, not always releasing him on the field (although this is very hard to believe), the team’s dependence on their leader will not go away anywhere. “Give the ball to Messi, he knows what to do with it”, was the motto that the team played for almost a decade. They just didn’t want to invent a different method, a different formula. Or they couldn’t. And even as Messi aged, lost speed, got up on his left foot, or was just in trouble, the formula remained the same. Can you imagine something similar at Bayern or Liverpool? Neither do I. This is why Bayern and Liverpool are winning the Champions League. And Barcelona just beautifully sings the requiem. Year after year.
It is significant that Barça’s dependence on Messi is manifested not only on the football field. The club’s payroll is another Achilles heel. According to the Spanish press, almost fifty percent of all club salaries (42% to be precise) goes to the Argentine’s “treasury.” Barcelona has long become an organization that responds first and foremost to Messi’s needs. Yes, Braugrana is still the most profitable club in the world, as the sale of merchandise with the most famous name in football continues to pay off. But, on the other hand, the club has very serious debts, around a billion dollars (more than 800 million, to be precise). And the situation will not improve. To this must be added the mediocre transfer policy of the current club management: almost a billion euros have been spent in the last five years on purchases (950 million), but it still does not make sense.
If Barcelona had sold their captain now, they would have made good money, downloaded the payroll and built a new team worthy of battle, in which no one will have privileges, but will have the opportunity to prove it. And Messi would just change the scene, get a new motivation and, you see, he would win two more Ballons d’Or, the only thing he really dreams of. And of course, with all this, I would have stayed forever in the club’s museum at Camp Nou.
But the car stayed in the same place. “The English queen of Barcelona, who has already lost her influence and status, will continue to try to enter eternity on soft pillows.
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