Today — Friday, November 29 — marks the 125-year anniversary of the formation of FC Barcelona.
To mark the occasion, The Athletic is running a series of pieces, celebrating the people and the moments who have helped make the club what they are today.
“First of all, to congratulate them for this 125th anniversary; to tell them I am proud to be part of this club, to be a Barcelona fan,” said Lionel Messi.
He had been asked for a message for Barca supporters by the TV show El Nou Clam (‘A New Cry’), which is broadcast on Thursday on Catalan station TV3.
It was episode six of a series following Catalan musician David Caraben, who has been appointed by the club’s board as the ‘commissioner’ of the 125th anniversary events.
Caraben has consulted many important club figures to find the essence of what makes FC Barcelona special and different through their 125-year history, including former managers Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, and current players Aitana Bonmati and Marc Casado, while mentioning past stars Johann Cruyff and Laszlo Kubala.
But the most powerful voice belongs to Messi, the greatest star of the club’s history (with apologies to founder Joan Gamper). The Argentinian scored 709 goals in 837 matches over 17 years in the first team, winning 35 senior trophies, including four Champions Leagues and 10 La Liga titles.
“I had the good fortune that God made me arrive there, and I could pass a lifetime at this marvellous club,” Messi said. “A special club, different to others, with how difficult it is these days to be a different club, and for how everything in football is now.”
“Jo em sento de Barcelona. A la nostra ment sempre hi ha poder tornar a Barcelona el dia de demà.” Leo Messi confessa que tant ell com la seva família troben a faltar la ciutat, en una entrevista a “El nou clam”.
La conversa sencera, a l’últim capítol de #NouClam3Cat, dijous 28… pic.twitter.com/HBC39wMJGe
— 3Cat (@som3cat) November 22, 2024
Barcelona’s fans would have been thrilled to hear Messi refer to himself as one of them, and call their current team “spectacular”.
This was not the place to discuss his painful departure from Barca in August 2021, or his new life in MLS with Inter Miami. Yet the 37-year-old’s absence, from both the club and the city he still calls home, was fiercely evident; no more so than what was left unsaid about his difficult relationship with current club president Joan Laporta.
It was significant that Messi spoke on a TV show he and his camp knew would be watched by pretty much every Barca fan in Catalonia. Just as meaningful is that the most popular figure in the club’s history will not be at the 125th anniversary celebrations today at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona city centre.
People at Barcelona say he did get invited to the event, as were many other ex-players and coaches. Among those to accept were his former team-mates Gerard Pique and Xavi, past figures Hristo Stoichkov and Txiki Begiristain, ex-coaches Frank Rijkaard and Ronald Koeman, and former presidents Joan Gaspart, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Caraben said in late October that they were working hard to persuade Messi to come and Miami’s early elimination from the MLS title play-offs over two weeks ago raised hopes he would be free to attend. However, Messi was clear he would not be there, with the reason floated being commitments to commercial partners that will keep him away from Catalonia this week.
His absence from the glittering gala highlights how much his relationship with the club hierarchy was damaged by the manner of his move to Paris Saint-Germain just over three years ago.
After his last Barca contract ended that June, Messi agreed to take a 50 per cent pay cut to continue playing for them. He was then shocked and angered when Laporta informed his father Jorge that this was not possible and that they would have to look for another club.
Messi in April 2021, when approaching the end of his Barcelona contract (David S Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
Laporta blamed the financial problems inherited from predecessor Bartomeu, and also La Liga chief Javier Tebas’ intransigence over the team’s permitted salary limit. But Messi repeatedly used the word “tricked” when describing his exit during an emotional farewell press conference in August 2021.
“Everyone was clear that I would continue, it was all sorted, we have always been sincere with the fans, at least I have,” Messi said that day. “I can only speak for myself, I’ve always been honest, transparent, never tricked anyone. That was always most important for me, for the fans to know that.”
When Messi was leaving PSG in the summer of 2023, there was a lot of talk in the Catalan media about a return to Barca. Instead, he moved to the United States.
After he joined Inter Miami, Barcelona released a statement saying they had made him a “proposal” to play for them again but that Laporta “understood” he had instead chosen to “compete in a league with fewer demands, further away from the spotlight and the pressure he has been subject to in recent years”.
That came after Messi had done an interview with Catalan outlet Mundo Deportivo in which he said: “I really hoped I’d be able to come back (to Barcelona), but after the experience of my departure, I didn’t want to be back in the same situation — waiting to see what would happen, with my future in another person’s hands.”
The two different messages were clear. Laporta wanted everyone to think he was doing everything so that the fan’s hero could wear the shirt again. Messi was showing the supporters he was up for a return but that it was not possible for reasons beyond his control. Neither was happy with the other’s presentation of events.
Laporta and Messi in March 2021, during the pandemic (David Ramos/Getty Images)
Messi’s relationship with the previous board, led by Bartomeu, was also really bad. Throughout his career, he has always disliked the notion he has been used by various club directors for their own political or PR reasons.
After joining PSG, he kept his mansion in the Catalan capital’s Castelldefels suburb and regularly returned to the city for visits, such as his former team-mate Xavi’s 42nd birthday party in January 2022. But he has not been seen in public with Laporta since leaving for Paris, or attended any official club event or game.
Messi has played some part in this week’s birthday celebrations, however.
He listened to the three finalists in the competition for Barca’s 125th anniversary song, without giving a critical opinion.
He also said his happiest day at the club was when he made his debut for the first team in 2004, aged just 17. His most memorable season was the first under Guardiola, 2008-09, when Barcelona won six trophies including the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
Happy 125th birthday! 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/4vCExRXVQc
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 29, 2024
His longest answers were about how much he treasures the club’s academy, La Masia — both his own time there as a kid, and how players developed there are the best fit for Barca’s first team. When asked how his old side have been playing under new coach Hansi Flick this season, he focused on how several youth-team graduates (including Casado, Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi) are playing key roles.
“It makes you proud to see how (La Masia) is represented currently in the first team,” Messi said. “This (current version of) Barca is spectacular and I’m not surprised. It’s nothing new, (it) has always happened, since I arrived at Barca aged 13. When they (the academy boys) get the chance, they respond this way as they know the club better than anyone, and are used to playing the same way since they were small.
“I had the good fortune to play alongside the best, which made everything much easier. For us (Barca’s academy graduates) it is simple, as we grew up doing it. Those who come from outside find it totally different, and need to adapt. I was always really surprised when really high-quality players arrived, but found it difficult. You realise that what was so easy and natural for us was not actually so simple.”
What most Barca fans really wanted to hear was whether Messi will return one day.
“My life is in Barcelona. We are always thinking not just of visiting, but of living there,” he said. “My kids, my wife and I all miss a lot our lives in Barcelona. We have friends and many things there. My sons are Catalan, and I lived most of my life there. I miss it a lot. You never know what life will bring, but our intention is to live there. It’s our home.”
Messi usually takes care to mention his love for and connections to Barcelona when he speaks in public — including when he won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina and his eighth Ballon D’Or, as the best footballer in the sport over the previous year, in 2023. The focus on La Masia in Thursday’s interview could be particularly interesting, given he has previously hinted about liking the idea of working in youth development or in a sporting director role when he does finally hang up his boots.
But Messi still makes a clear distinction between the club overall and the current leadership. Events since he left the Camp Nou are unlikely to have changed his opinions, such as Laporta’s messy handling of Xavi’s departure as coach at the end of last season.
One of the most painful things about Messi’s Barca exit was that its surprise nature, in the middle of summer, meant he never got to say goodbye to the fans.
The club has regularly floated the idea of a tribute game, where he could be reunited with those supporters. In June 2023, Laporta suggested the official reopening of the Camp Nou, currently undergoing a spectacular €1.5billion (£1.25bn; $1.58bn at current rates) refurbishment, would be an ideal date for such a fixture. A Gamper Trophy friendly in the European pre-season against Miami, with their big ex-Barca contingent in the dressing room and boardroom could make some sense, even though the MLS season will be ongoing at that time. But Messi himself has never publicly embraced that idea.
The suggestion from this week’s events is that some big changes will be required for Messi to appear at the next major event in Barca’s history. Or to return to work for the club, in whatever role.
Messi’s words about loving Barca and wanting to return to Catalonia could not have been clearer in Thursday’s interview.
But the message sent by his absence from today’s city-centre gala speaks just as loudly.
(Top photo: Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
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