Barcelona great Lionel Messi gave a tearful farewell media conference at the Nou Camp on Sunday morning.
Messi addressed his departure in an emotional speech, which began with the Argentine insisting he wanted to stay.
“This is really difficult for me after so many years, having been here for all my life. I am not ready for this,” he began.
“We were at home, we thought we would be staying at Barcelona…it is what we wanted.”
He continued: “These recent days I’ve been thinking, giving a lot of thought to what I can say. And the truth is that I can’t think of anything, this is really difficult for me after so many years.
“I’ve been here my entire life, I’m not ready for this. And last year with all the nonsense, I was convinced of what I wanted to say, but this year it is not the same.
“But today, I have to say goodbye to all of this.
“I’ve been here since I was 13. After 21 years I am leaving with my wife and three little Catalan-Argentine kids, and I can’t tell you everything.
“I can tell you in a few years we want to come back because this is my home.
“I am just really grateful to my team-mates and former team-mates, everyone that has been by my side. There are so many people.
“For this club I have so much respect. So many beautiful things have happened. Also some bad things, but all this helped me to grow and improve and make me the person I am today.
“I gave everything for this shirt from the first day until the very last. The truth is that I am leaving.
“I would love to be able to go in a different way. I never imagined it this way. I didn’t think I would have to say goodbye.
“I imagined it with the team on the pitch, the last cheers. We have been playing without fans and it has been difficult not to hear them. And now I have to leave without seeing the fans for a year and a half.
“If I had imagined it, it would have been with all the fans.
“I hope I can come back and be part of this club again in any way and help it become the best in the world.”
Messi also lamented: “I leave this club now without seeing the fans for over a year and a half. If I imagine it, I would have imagined the Nou Camp being full and being able to say goodbye properly.
“But it has to be this way, and I’m so grateful for all the love that everyone has shown me because I’ve had some such great moments here over the years, some bad ones too but the love people have shown me has always been the same.”
Later taking questions, Messi was asked about his next club.
Messi said that PSG “is one possibility” for the future, but immediately adds that his future is not yet determined.
“I have nothing confirmed with anyone. There are a lot of clubs interested. At the minute, nothing is closed. We are talking about a lot of things.”
He also insisted: “This is what [club president Joan] Laporta said right until the last minute. Then what happened with the league happened. What more is there to tell?
“I did everything possible for the club, for Laporta. On my behalf we did everything we could because I wanted to stay. Last year I didn’t, and I said it. This year I did, and I couldn’t.
“It’s going to be a difficult change, especially for my family because they thought they were going to stay in this city.
“I’ve got nothing confirmed with anybody [any other club]. At the moment the press release came out, I had a lot of calls. There is nothing closed but we are talking about a lot of things.
“I value this club [Barcelona] a lot, I’ve always tried to manage myself with humility and respect and understand the importance of wearing the Barca shirt.
“I want people to recognise that from me, as well as the game on the pitch.
“I’m very grateful for the career that I’ve had but especially in Barcelona, the titles that we’ve won, the defeats as well because they made me learn and grow.
“When we’ve won titles, I celebrated them with my friends, family, and children. I have a lot of memories here and they are all really good.”
Messi also confirmed he was prepared to take a 50 per cent wage cut to stay.
“I offered to reduce my salary by 50 per cent and they didn’t ask me for anything else.
“The news that I’d asked for 30 per cent more is a lie. We did everything we could and it wasn’t possible.
“A lot of things people are saying aren’t true and like I said, I did everything [I could].”
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