Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez confirmed on Thursday that Argentina star Lionel Messi is “excited” to return to Catalonia, but “circumstances don’t help” and he doesn’t want “this kind of pressure” on his career.
“We both talked a lot” about the possibility of a return to Barcelona, ​​Xavi said in a statement on the Twitch platform, adding that “everyone was excited, first him, then me and then the club, but circumstances did. No help.”
“Often we don’t put ourselves in each other’s shoes, we don’t have a little sympathy,” he added, adding, “Being Leo Messi doesn’t have to be easy.”
He continued, “He’s never quiet, he’s got to have a great command of the field, he’s got to be great everywhere. He hadn’t had a good time the past two years and he didn’t want that kind of pressure anymore.
Messi had many options to continue his professional career, between his club since childhood Barcelona and the Saudi fantasy show, but the world champion, who was crowned the world’s best player seven times, decided to play for the team on Wednesday. To write the last pages of Inter Miami’s amazing football career.
Messi’s selection came as a result of lengthy negotiations led by his father Jorge, who disappointed Barcelona fans who believed the 35-year-old Argentine would return to the Catalan club he left in 2021. To move to the French team of Paris Saint-Germain.
On Monday, Messi’s father confirmed that his son wanted the option of returning to Barcelona. But the club had to wait until the Spanish league approved its economic feasibility plan.
“The situation is undoubtedly not easy for him,” said Xavi, “the result depends on what Leo wants … He was very excited, but the circumstances did not help.”
Asked when he started thinking Messi might not come to Barcelona, ​​the Catalan coach said he had “noticed a change” in the Argentine “in recent days, recent weeks”.
Messi “explained the matter very well: he wants to reduce the level of pressure at the end of his career, which would be the maximum if he was back here,” he said, “to give respect to the best player in history.”