One story that dominated the sports news last summer is the departure of the Argentine star Lionel Messi from Barcelona, and his next destination.
But in the end, Barca did not allow his captain to leave before the end of his contract next summer, and this is what the Brazilian Rivaldo, the former star of the team, considered a mistake.
After the humiliating defeat by Bayern Munich 8-2 in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the "Pulga" decided to leave Barca, stressing that there is a clause in his contract that allows him to leave at the end of each season.
However, some jurists in the team of Josep Maria Bartomeu, the resigning president of Barca, considered that the clause was no longer valid, and Messi had to sue Barca in the courts to leave him, but the player did not respond.
Rivaldo believes that "the previous administration made a mistake by not selling Messi while his contract with Barca was still valid."
"They could have done the same work that the Royal administration did when it sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus for a hundred million euros," he said.
He concluded, "It hurts when you see the most talented player leave for free from the team that suffers from major financial problems. Messi's departure is inevitable (in the summer)."
It is noteworthy that Barcelona's debts amounted to one billion and 173 million euros, and the club is going through a stifling financial crisis amid talk of imminent bankruptcy, but Rivaldo believes that the team has players who can sell them and pay off some of the debts owed by it.