Messi wants to leave FC Barcelona. The
club doesn’t want to let him go, however he’s made his decision clear. In this
post, I try to explain, why it is the right decision for everybody and I
give you tips, which might enable you to follow the story in English and in
Spanish.
Leo has been playing for the club in Catalunya since the year 2000 when he
joined, in 2004 he made his debut in Spanish Primera Division, top league in
Spain. He scored 634 goals in 731 appearances and among them 444 in
La Liga, which is incredible achievement. He was able to score more
than 40 goals in 10 consecutive seasons competing over the
years with Cristiano Ronaldo for the titles in Spain and in Europe as well.
He won Spanish league 10 times and Champions League 4 times. He
is talented, committed and hard working. He is able to perform on the highest
level on regular basis, every time producing something truly exceptional. It is
true, his team and his successes were built around Pep Guardiola’s
Barcelona between 2008 and 2012. Current Manchester City manager, Pep
Guardiola has done incredible job for the team during his period at Camp Nou,
setting up the winning project. He emulated Johan Cruyff’s style of football in
FC Barcelona. The famous "tiki-taka" has been the
way of playing football of FC Barcelona. Pep
learnt his players short passing football, hard pressing and creating chances
by vertical passes using different angles and positionless football. Team was
set up on solid foundations, great skills of: Messi, Iniesta,
Xavi, Busquets, Puyol, Pique, Alba, Alves, Pedro, Fabregas and Villa. The core of
the team was based on great passing football. However, the
board and the coach weren’t able to work after 4 years together.
Pep left the club in 2012, then Martino, the late Vilanova, Enrique tried to
follow his steps. Enrique succeeded by winning the Champions League
crown in 2015 with Messi, Neymar, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets, beating Juventus.
Then, it was only worse. Valverde and recently Setien have not been able to
win in Europe, however Valverde won the league twice. Ironically, everyone
knew, despite Valverde won the league, Real Madrid players were able to win the
Champions League crown three consecutive times with Ronaldo and Zidane as the
coach. Barcelona success in Spain was overshadowed by
Real Madrid titles in the European tournament, which is called Champions
League. The European title is not only the marketing value for the club
or financial, but it is sporting value - you make history by winning this
cup, like the NBA or NFL in America.
Football has changed since Pep days in late 2000s and early 2010s in the
club. You need more physicality than ever before to compete, speed, short
passes, touches, creativity, pressing are not enough. However, the key
to be successful is the same: hard work and improving everything on regular
basis to be able to compete on the highest level. Liverpool
and Bayern have been doing that recently.
Since 2015 Champions League final and selling Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain,
Barcelona had done nothing to improve, they were struggling away from home,
recently they have been humiliated by Liverpool and Bayern in Champions League
in last two seasons. Never mind Bayern, they lost against Granada in La Liga.
Leo didn’t want Neymar to leave the club, Griezmann to enter, Valverde to
leave. The board knew better and now they can find themselves without
Messi, probably the best footballer ever and even more importantly, he
could join the other club for free by terminating his contract. From
business perspective, it would be a disaster. Leo could be sold for
more than 700 million euro and due to mistakes of the club president, he may
join other club for free leaving Barcelona with no money for the transfer
involving Leo.
However, if the fee is required, only few teams can afford to buy Leo.
Leo should join Manchester City in my opinion. He would play under Pep
Guardiola’s management and with great players, like de Bruyne, Foden, Aguero,
Jesus, Rodri, Sterling. The team would suit his style and it would be
competitive, challenging for the title in Europe, which is the main goal
and also English Premier League against mighty Liverpool team of Jurgen Klopp.
The other option would be Paris Saint-Germain with Mbappe and Neymar.
The club is better and better and they prefer passing football, which suits
Leo.
Third option is Inter Milan, also known as Internazionale. It would
be harder to Leo to adapt to Italian football, which is tactical, not creative
in my opinion.
FC Barcelona might be extremely difficult to rebuild. They need to be set up
from the scratch once again, the board should leave, vast majority of the
players also. They need to work out how this project should be set up and
developed. They don’t know now. However, it is the end of the era. Poor
management leads to disaster.
Fans are disappointed, however if Leo doesn’t want to play and he wants
to leave, he should be allowed to do so. They cannot force him to play and they
wouldn’t on the long term, despite legal issues regarding Leo position right
now.
The story is fascinating. It is covering by the BBC Sport, Sky News, Marca,
RTVE. Visit their websites and live streams to follow recent developments on
Leo. It is not only football story, but it is political, business and social.
Conclusion
Learn language by following the stories people talk about on social media to
learn and meet new people.
Credit: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk
Credit: https://www.sportbible.com
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