Lionel Messi’s Legacy at Barcelona
The man, the myth, the legend.
When Lionel Messi eventually left Barcelona, there was a romantic notion that he would return to Argentina and play for Newell’s Old Boys, the team he grew up supporting.
For the player, Barcelona supporters believed would never play for anybody else, Paris Saint-Germain, a club transformed by Qatar’s unfathomable state money, is a far less romantic destination.
At the age of 34, Messi did not want to leave the Camp Nou, at least not in the way he did.
He had committed to a new five-year contract, but he was unable to stay with the club owing to La Liga rules.
Messi will join Paris Saint Germain.
Even though he has never won the World Cup and won the last of his four Champions Leagues in 2015, Messi is probably the best of all time.
PSG and their Qatari owners are focused solely on winning the tournament, which is why Messi is being paid a whopping 35 million euros (£29 million) every year for the remainder of his deal.
Barcelona had already destroyed themselves to keep Messi, but they had known from the time he arrived from his home Rosario at the age of 13 how great a player they had on their hands.
Barcelona had won one European Cup, 16 LaLiga Santander championships, and 24 Copa del Reys when Lionel Messi first walked onto a pitch with the first-team squad in 2003. The club now has five Champions Leagues, 26 LaLiga Santander's, and 30 Copa del Reys in the post-Messi period.
Those figures alone demonstrate Messi’s value to the club. The Blaugrana have had the finest years of their existence since he joined their ranks. True, he has spent many seasons surrounded by other top players, but the Rosario native has always been the centre of attention.
Even Barcelona’s greatest fantasies could not have predicted what the child they signed on a napkin would become. Barcelona is the envy of Europe thanks to Messi. He turned them into the club that everyone wanted to be a part of. But, of course, he was exclusive to them. Similar approaches like Barcelona’s have been implemented, but no one has been able to match Messi’s success.
When he scored his first goal, though, Barça supporters knew he would be a great player.
On a hot Sunday in May 2005, almost 91,000 people packed into the Camp Nou.
In the 88th minute, Messi came in to replace Samuel Eto’o. In the 90th minute, he hoisted the ball over the goalie and into the net after a beautiful Ronaldinho pass, only to have the goal disallowed unjustly. He tried the same thing again sixty seconds later, and this time it worked.
Messi won his first league trophy in the same month and Barcelona’s first in six years. After that, the rest is history.
In 2006, he earned his first Champions League title. He got his first hat-trick in a Clasico when he was just 19 years old.
Barcelona became one of the best club teams of all time after Pep Guardiola took over as coach in 2008, with Messi as the superstar.
Messi scored an incredible 50 league goals in Guardiola’s last season, 2011/12. In the calendar year of 2012, he scored 91 goals for club and country.
With 672 goals in 778 games, he leaves Barcelona as the club’s all-time leading scorer. His goal total is a record for one club.
With 474 goals, he is the all-time leading scorer in La Liga and the player with the most hat-tricks in Spain’s top division.
Messi’s legacy is defined by the goals and trophies he earned while playing for Barcelona, but there are other intangibles to consider. Barcelona has spent most of its history overshadowed by Real Madrid, both in Europe and Spain.
Messi, on the other hand, flipped the tables, and Barcelona would do well to retain the competitive spirit that he instilled in the club. Over the previous 17 years, the club has been accustomed to winning, and it will be a struggle for them to do so without the world’s best player.
Messi has far too many great performances and goals to name, but a few stand out above the rest and will live on in the hearts of his fans.
Every football fan will remember his spectacular header in the Champions League final in Rome, as well as the goal he scored against Getafe after imitating Diego Maradona with a spectacular run.
Barcelona, which notoriously paid for a year of growth hormone therapy for Messi when he first arrived, stated, in the past, that they had measures in place to deal with his departure, whenever it would occur
But the reality is that their number 10 is indispensable both on and off the field. Messi is worth far more than his wage.
Although he may have made 384 million euros at Barca in the last four years, according to research, he generated 619 million euros throughout that period.
Messi, at the age of 34, still has a lot to give his new club and his country.
Messi won Olympic gold with Argentina in 2008, but his international career was marked by heartbreaking setbacks, including in the 2014 World Cup final and three Copa America finals, until last month.
However, in July, he led his team to a Copa America final triumph over Brazil at the Maracana.
Next year, the man who was lured to Paris by Qatari riches will have one more chance to win the World Cup in Qatar.
Leo Messi may be leaving Barcelona, but his legacy is immutable.
