'It’s absolutely tragic what has been allowed to happen' – Barcelona fans digest the Lionel Messi saga

Jordi Camp. Socio (Barca club member) since the day he was born in 1975. Sits opposite the main stand, second tier.

“It’s a good thing for Barca’s president Bartomeu that there are no fans allowed in games right now because they would be going crazy at him.

"I blame him and his board 100 per cent for this situation with Messi. They have spoiled everything built by [former president] Joan Laporta, by Pep Guardiola, by Johan Cruyff. He’s destroyed the Masia, he’s had four technical directors in five years. They wasted an incredible amount of money on players and still there’s no sign of what their project actually is.

"I can understand why Messi wants to walk away from this and I think the president wants him to leave. Bartomeu told his best mate Luis Suarez to leave in a flash, knowing that would annoy Messi. Barca need the money, they need to save money. The finances of the club have been a major problem and the directors offer personal guarantees to the bank when they take control. Barca is not a company like other football clubs, remember, but one owned by its members.

"I’m still not sure Messi will go, but if he does he’ll have my eternal respect. I’m just sad that my four-year-old son, Bru, will not remember him. He’s already been to Camp Nou, but will he remember seeing Messi, the greatest player ever?

"Messi made me happy, but while he expressed himself so well on the pitch, he’s not comfortable talking off it. The bureau fax he sent saying he wanted to leave was cold. He’s not stupid, but he lives in a bubble. His Argentinian accent hasn’t changed in 20 years because he’s surrounded by Argentinians. He doesn’t speak Catalan, but nobody can be perfect. I still consider him Catalan.

"I’ll remember him so well with so many incredible memories. The best was against Manchester United at Wembley in 2011. There, you had the complete performances from a team with six Catalans in the starting line-up and eight Masia graduates managed by a Catalan, Pep, and assisted by a Catalan, Tito Vilanova. They played the perfect game in the Champions League final against a United team who had reached three of those finals in four years. Messi’s reaction to that was the best I saw, when he kicked the microphone. It meant too much to him. I was behind the goal going crazy.

"I remember him in that semi-final win against Madrid in 2011 a few months earlier too. Barca outclassed Jose Mourinho’s team and he resorted to saying ‘Why? Why? Why?’ after the game. Loved it.

"Messi still has two years at the very top. He can then drop back to be a midfielder like Xavi because he’s such a good passer and so intelligent when he has the ball. I’ll miss him and still hope he doesn’t go.”

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Barca fans protest outside Camp Nou

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Roberto Garcia. Season ticket in main stand, first tier, since 2000.

“I travel a lot for my job but I always said that wherever I was in the world, I would go back to Camp Nou for the final game where Guardiola, Iniesta, Xavi and Messi were together. I did this in 2012. I’d lived through their golden era and loved it. I stood behind the goal in Rome and watched Messi hang in the air to score that incredible goal in the European Cup final. I was at Wembley behind the goal when he kicked the hoarding in celebration.

"It’s absolutely tragic what has been allowed to happen with Messi and for him to leave in these circumstances. Andres Iniesta was given a fitting, emotional send off. Xavi too. But I also believe Messi’s tactics are wrong because he holds all the cards. He could have gone back into training and told the club that he was going to play one more season and then leave for free.

"The club don’t want him to do that because they want money for him. They want his €100 million (Dh435m) gross annual salary off the payroll and they want to get some money for him. They got it wrong by allowing Iniesta and Xavi, two of the best players in the world, to leave for free. Football is about trophies but also economics. The best clubs balance the two. Barca have not.

"So he’s played into their hands by staying away and it all looks a little ugly. It could get uglier, because fans will revert to siding with their club in the long term.

"Messi is adamant that he wants out but I don’t believe he’s thinking clearly and he doesn’t deserve the fans turning against him. He’s getting the benefit of the doubt at the moment because he’s Messi and doesn’t have a reputation for being a trouble causer, but he doesn’t want a situation where fans start to have some sympathy for the board, who will be briefing against him, because the board do not deserve any sympathy.

"If he goes, history will still show that Bartomeu let Messi go. And that will be even more incredible as there will be elections in nine months and he won’t win them, but Messi will have gone in awful circumstances.

"What would Barca do with the money anyway? The mismanagement of the Neymar money is legendary and that of the football team too. They’ve let club legends grow old while playing, which isn’t normal. Too many of the players are over 30 but it’s a complicated situation. This team still won the league in 2018 and 2019.

"Deep down, I’m not convinced he’s played his last game for Barca. I’d love to see him in the shirt again, even if it’s just once because he’s given me so many incredible memories and won so many football games against the best sides in the world single-handedly.”

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Messi's dad in Barcelona for crunch talks

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Jimmy Byrne. Season ticket holder for 25 years, Second tier, South goal.

“Messi will go. He can't turn back now. He’s not going for the money, but because he’s seen the club fall down around him. He’s seen so many managers and sporting directors come and go, he’s seen the current state of the team and the failure to change it. Half the team who were in that 8-2 defeat in Lisbon played in the Champions League final five years ago.

"I can’t say anything against Messi. He has every right to say that it’s a shambles and he deserves to play in a better team, but I’ve long thought that he won’t be remembered as one of our own. Maybe it’s because he’s not a Catalan, maybe it’s because people fawn if he says two words in Catalan, but his aura comes across as a player and not because of anything he says.

"Messi’s records will stand and likely never be broken, but he should never have been Barça captain. He’s the best player and has been for a long time, but while he could often change the game by himself – even against the best – he couldn’t raise those players around him in those Champions League defeats to Roma, Liverpool or Bayern. His shoulders were slumped, his head was down, his hands were on his hips. That’s not what you want from your captain.

"But how can you fault him over the years? He always turned up against Madrid and in those big Champions League games against Bayern or PSG. Probably the best goal I saw him score was the header against in the Rome final against Manchester United, but he’s created so many memories. I’d go to games season after season thinking that he couldn’t get any better and he would. And even though we knew he was the best, he would still surprise you as he shuffled along the edge of the box with the ball, beating players before scoring.

"I don’t think his performances have diminished much either, but he used to have Xavi, Iniesta and Neymar around him. And when he did, he was still head and shoulders above them.

"Messi’s game has changed a little bit with age. He plays deeper but that’s fine, he’s the best passer in the world and he’s happy to set up others. I don't think he’s obsessed about breaking more records, he’s happy to play a ball over the top to set up a teammate. He can be at the very top for another two or three years if he plays his current role, but he can’t chase full backs and, because Luis Suarez couldn’t either, that’s a flaw in Barca’s pressing game.

"Ronald Koeman has been brought in with a new broom to clear out the old guard. I have little faith in him and Barca fans demand trophies every season. They won't give Koeman two years and they can be fickle – all football fans are.

"I have so little faith because the president Bartomeu is a disaster and has been since day one. He oversaw the abandoning of La Masia and Barca B went from being a feeder team where everyone played the same way to just another team with journeymen pros. Barca started losing more of their best young players, like Eric Garcia to City. He’s a Catalan; he’s a Barca fan. Why is he joining Man City?”

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'It’s absolutely tragic what has been allowed to happen' – Barcelona fans digest the Lionel Messi saga

The National spoke to several long time Barca season ticket holders for their take on the Argentine's call to leave the club

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