Barcelona legend Lionel Messi picked up his eighth Ballon d’Or on Saturday night, further extending his lead over Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most. The Inter Miami star gave a press conference after receiving the award, and the Blaugrana were one of the key topics, with Messi explaining he hoped their paths would cross again.
Messi professed his love for Barcelona, and backed them to put up a good fight in European competition.
“Obviously I follow Barcelona as always, and I am going to continue doing so. It is the club that I love and will love all my life. I think it has a great team, great players, a mix of young people and veterans, then in football many things can happen, there may be casualties, inconveniences… Barca are prepared to fight for this Champions League.”
He also backed the current squad to rebound from their defeat to Real Madrid on Saturday.
“Beyond losing the Clasico, the team is going to recover from this tough blow. I have no doubt that it is one of the candidates [to win it], but it doesn’t have to put pressure on itself, go little by little and grow during the competition.”
The big question for many was whether Messi would consider returning to the club, something he admitted he would, but perhaps not in a playing capacity.
“Barca is the club that saw me grow, that gave me everything, that I love and I also gave everything. Why not return to the club? But it is not something I think about now.”
“Being a manager is something that attracts me, but everything can change. One day I will be living in Barcelona, I’m going to be close to the club in one way or another. I’m going to be linked to that home, and I don’t know what could happen.”
However he would be open to a testimonial, with Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas previously admitting that they would be happy to facilitate something of the sort.
“I would love to be able to say goodbye to the people, in a different way, I think there was a strange feeling when I left, and it is not good with everything we shared together. I deserve to be able to say goodbye to those people who have shared so much joy and sadness throughout my career. If it happens, I would be happy to be there, obviously,” he told Sport.
