Messi. "Bartomeu cheated on me many times"
The year 2020 will be very difficult for
Leo Messi
to forget
.
In many facets, it has been without a doubt the worst of his life.
So bad did he see everything that he even wanted to leave Barcelona, communicating his intention through the now famous burofax.
His frustrated departure from the entity was the straw that broke the camel's back of an institutional and sporting crisis that is still dragging on and that may culminate in another of those journeys through the desert to which the Barcelona environment became so accustomed not long ago.
Things started to go wrong in January.
The elimination in the Spanish Super Cup by Atlético was the trigger for the dismissal of
Ernesto Valverde
and the arrival of
Quique Setién
to the bench.
At that time, the team was a leader in the League and was still alive in the Champions League and in the Copa del Rey.
The idea of the meeting chaired by
Josep Maria Bartomeu
was to improve the image of the team and the institution.
In the end, neither one thing nor the other.
The Catalans were eliminated by Athletic in the semifinals of the Cup. In addition, Real Madrid won the League and Bayern Munich inflicted a historic humiliation in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, with that painful 2-8 in the final phase of Lisbon.
Messi, at that time, was not amused by the then technical secretary,
Éric Abidal
, pointing out some components of the squad as the main architects of the relief on the bench.
"It would be necessary to give names because, if not, it is dirtying us all and feeding things that are said and are not true," the Argentine launched on social networks.
The Frenchman, former teammate of the current Barcelona captain, with whom he won, among other titles, four Leagues, two Champions League and two Club World Cups, managed to stay in his position by acquiring a low profile, but was struck down in August, after the Bayern disaster .
The outbreak of the pandemic has disrupted the lives and plans of the whole world.
For elite football, that meant completely suspending competition from mid-to-late March until the end of June.
And, also, the postponement of the Eurocup and the America's Cup.
The economic circumstances triggered by the outbreak of the coronavirus have also meant that even those who seem to be on the sidelines of what happens below the sporting Olympus have touched their pockets.
Messi, like the rest of the players, has been forced to adapt his salary circumstances.
And that has also been one more link in the chain of calamities of 2020.
The attempt to leave
In August, after closing a blank season in sports, something that had not happened to him since 2008, Messi realized that he couldn't take it anymore.
He had gotten tired of being put in the spotlight because of the failures chained by Barça, something that he has already experienced too many times with Argentina, he understood that Bartomeu's project was going nowhere and decided to do the hitherto unthinkable: leave the club.
To do this, he wanted to take advantage of a clause that allowed him to unilaterally leave the entity at the end of each season.
The then president, however, seized on the fact that the deadline for communicating that decision had long expired and refused to facilitate his departure.
If he wanted to leave, he could only do so by paying his buyout clause: 700 million euros.
Something completely unaffordable for some suitors among whom
Pep Guardiola's
Manchester City would have been
.
For the Argentine forward, the Catalan coach is one of the best coaches he has worked with and he wanted to enjoy football again and win titles with him.
In the end, Bartomeu won the pulse.
And Messi stayed.
Reluctantly.
As he pointed out when making his continuity public, it did not occur to him to take the club to court.
The fact that
Ronald Koeman
, Setién's replacement on the bench, forced the departure of Luis Suárez, one of his best friends, had also been one more reason to leave.
The then president was very clear that if the Argentine left the club, he himself would follow in the footsteps.
His resignation only came after a proposal for a vote of no confidence reached the 16,521 signatures of partners required.
The captain, sure, would not be very happy if
Carles Tusquets
, president of the management company, openly assure only a few weeks ago that he would have sold it in the summer.
Nor, to see how
Robert Lewandowski
snatched the number one in world football in a The Best in which he passed even his great rival, the Portuguese
Cristiano Ronaldo
.
This year, there has been no Ballon d'Or. And just a month ago it was shaken by the death of
Diego Maradona
.
An idol he paid tribute to (in celebration of a goal scored against Osasuna) by showing the shirt he wore when he saw him play at Newell's.
One of those strokes of genius that sweetened a 2020 to forget.
The
annus horribilis
.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Leo Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ernesto Valverde
Quique Setien
Ronald Koeman
America Cup
Euro 2020
Covid 19
FC Barcelona
CA Osasuna
Copa del Rey
Pep Guardiola
Diego Maradona
LaLigaThe shirt with which the six-year-old Messi saw Maradona live
Champions Joao Félix loves Red Bull (and other reasons to trust Atlético)
HealthArgentina approves of emergency the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus and will begin to inject it before the end of the year
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