Former Barça president warns Lionel Messi

“Who does he think he is?” A former Barça president has taken aim at Lionel Messi, amid debate over the Argentinian’s failure to say goodbye to the club’s supporters.

Joan Gaspart, a former president of FC Barcelona, criticised Messi’s attitude towards his old team on Sunday. He said the forward had not made the trip to greet the fans. Messi left Barcelona for PSG in 2021 after being unable to extend his contract with his boyhood club; since then, he has not returned to Camp Nou to greet the supporters.

Gaspart also said he understood the absence of a farewell to be down to strained relations with Joan Laporta, the current president. While calling Messi the world’s best player, he argued that Barça had helped make him the player he is. He also recalled that Messi had joined the club at the age of 13, when Gaspart was president, before warning him: “He should be careful.”

The prospect of a tribute to Messi also remains under discussion, with the possibility of another ceremony raised. Gaspart said that Messi should come and say goodbye to Barça, whoever is president. He rejected the idea that the Argentinian could make his attendance conditional on Laporta leaving office, and said that if that were the case, he would not attend the tribute himself.

In the same exchange, Gaspart said he would give Messi a little more time before his absence began to bother him. He also recalled that he had sometimes called himself the “worst president in Barça history”, after leaving office before the end of his term during a period marked by poor sporting results and Luis Figo’s move to Real Madrid.