Barcelona striker Lionel Messi has spoken about Pep Guardiola’s spat with Barca and the departures of Thiago Alcantara and David Villa.
The Argentine appeared at a Press conference on Wednesday morning and was treated to several questions by reporters anxious to get his opinion on events at the club over the summer.
“I’ve come back as eager as ever. I’m hopeful of doing everything correctly so I can achieve my aims,” said Messi, who was promptly asked about the war of words between Guardiola and Barcelona, particularly since boss Tito Vilanova’s response on Tuesday.
“It is between them and something I don’t want to get involved in. They’ve already talked and made things clear. I’ve no opinion on the matter,” said Messi.
He was also invited to give his opinion on the departures of Thiago and Villa, who have left for Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid respectively.
“These are personal decisions and in Thiago’s case he decided to leave because he thought he’d play more. It was his decision.
“Atletico have lost a striker like [Radamel] Falcao and El Guaje will be a very good replacement. He’s a player who has a lot of goals in him and he’ll continue to doing that with Atletico.”
Messi suffered a hamstring injury towards the end of last season but says it is just an occupational hazard of the sport he plays.
“I’ll continue as I was and hope to play in every game. The risk is always the same in football and it can happen to anyone.
“The injury was a minor one but complicated the way things turned out. I decided to play when perhaps I hadn’t fully recovered, but that’s behind us now,” he admitted.
