Messi Leaves Barca: When The Sky is Empty of Moonlight

August 8, 2021 is a special day in Barca history. It started with a press conference where Lionel Messi burst into tears and said goodbye to the place where he had been for more than 20 years. And it ended with the first match of the post-Messi era, with the opponent Juventus of… Cristiano Ronaldo.

A period of history has ended . Perhaps fans have heard this saying too much in sports articles when a certain icon retires from his career. You have certainly come across the following sentence in many other articles: the history of Barcelona/world football is divided into two periods: before and after Lionel Messi. In fact, the last sentence is still correct if you replace the name Lionel Messi with Johan Cruyff.

But Messi leaving Barca is not that simple. Xavi and Andres Iniesta once wiped away tears of separation, but Messi’s tears this time carried a more painful aftertaste. It’s incomplete and somewhat frustrating.

Nor can there be any comparison for this departure. It was more like a funeral than a farewell. A breakup where those who left cried, those who stayed cried, and even those responsible for recording the event, the reporters, also cried. President Joan Laporta pushed all responsibility to the old dynasty, headed by former President Josep Bartomeu, for pushing this great club into its current disastrous financial situation, leading to the loss of its most precious gem. .

Ironically, what Laporta said today about Bartomeu is exactly the same as what his successor Sandro Rosell said a decade ago about… Laporta. In fact, Barca has long fallen into hell. Within two years, they broke two records: the first sports club to reach the annual revenue mark of one billion euros and they also broke the record for the most debt (1.4 billion euros). But when Messi stood in front of the microphone to say goodbye, it was seen that the roller coaster had fallen off its tracks.

Ronaldo and Messi created an unprecedented heroic battle together. But Ronaldo feels like he… belongs to everyone more. He has blown up the arenas of Portugal (with Sporting Lisbon), England (Man Utd), Spain (Real Madrid) and Italy (Juventus). Ronaldo’s heroic journey has a classic motif: a small-town boy (Madeira) goes to the capital (Lisbon) to look for opportunities and then achieves brilliant achievements that no one has ever known before (Madrid). . Ronaldo’s rise is admirable but completely explainable, through his agent (Jorge Mendes, the number one super agent on the planet), his masters (Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Zinedine Zidane) and many others. drops of sweat.

Guardiola: “I wanted to help Messi become the best player, but in the end he made me the best coach.”

All the molds mentioned above cannot be applied to Messi. His very beginning (like playing soccer but lacking… growth hormone) was too strange. Messi’s first and only representative is his father. The coaches did not help him improve at all. As Pep Guardiola said: “I set the goal to help Messi become the best player but in the end he made me the best coach.” Teammates admire Ronaldo, but worship Messi. A complete genius, Messi is the Einstein of football.

With the equation E=mc^2, people created an atomic bomb. With his left foot, Messi creates football as precise as an equation and as destructive as an atomic bomb. Statistics about Messi’s number of Cups, goals, assists and records can easily be found with just a few mouse clicks. Before Messi’s press conference, to show nostalgia, Barca TV showed all of Messi’s goals (more than 670 goals). That program started at 10pm and ended nearly 4am the next morning. If we also show the assists, I’m afraid it will drag on until noon. As for showing the beautiful football scenes, it would probably take… a whole week to finish.

And Messi has created all that magic in just one shirt!

Messi holds the record of winning the Golden Ball six times, and all are in the Barca shirt. Photo: AFP.

The breakup is painful because a person has accepted to reduce his income by half but still cannot stay. It would be much less painful to be rational like Real. All slogans like “More than a club”, or “We create stars, not buy stars” will become meaningless in one day. Because, what’s the point of creating a star if you can’t keep it?

But calling Messi a star is an understatement for him. Compared to the stars who once shone at Camp Nou, Messi should probably be called the moon. In Barca’s dressing room, there are two stars placed on the tops of the cabinets. A cabinet to place memorabilia of legends who played for the club: Laszlo Kubala, Cesar, Hristo Stoichkov, Romario, “alien” Ronaldo, Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho… The remaining star is placed on top of the cabinet. … Messi. His position in the locker room is right in the middle. Everyone must turn to him, including the captain. The coach creates tactics based on him. Club income depends on his image. Sports directors only buy people after consulting him. Messi has long been the heart of the club.

The collective titles that Messi won at Barca. Photo: AFP.

And now that heart has been removed from the body. Many people only started watching football thanks to seeing Messi playing for Barca. Now they have two options: quit watching football or become fans of the next club where Messi plays. Rational people will be watching two interesting subjects next season: a Barcelona without Messi and a Messi without Barcelona.

Everyone has seen how Real and Ronaldo struggled without each other. Now how will Barca and Messi survive without each other? This is not just a purely professional story. This is a story about the identity of a person and a team. The day Messi burst into tears, many people around the world cried along, even though they may have never worshiped him or loved Barca.

They are sad because the world has forever lost a beautiful story about love, faith and sacrifice.

Messi sobbed during his farewell press conference with Barca, on the afternoon of August 8 at Camp Nou. Photo: AFP.

Football life will continue as it has, but clearly something has died. And the next part will only be nostalgia for what used to be.

The starry night doesn’t matter, because someone has already shot down the moon.