Lionel Messi: Get the hell out of Barcelona!

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 17 May 2021 18:42 BST
• 2 min read

Now we know why Lionel Messi wants to quit Barcelona.

The build-up to Barca’s Champions League last-16 first-leg tie against Paris Saint-Germain was dominated by talk of Messi’s potential move to tonight’s opponents.

As we know, Messi’s contract at Camp Nou expires this summer and until now he has shown no desire to pen an extension having fallen out with the club.

And he will now be already packing his bags after Tuesday’s horror-show.

Despite taking the lead through a Messi penalty, Barcelona were thumped 4-1 at home by PSG. It could and should have been an even bigger scoreline as Kylian Mbappe and Co. ran riot.

It is a result that means the Blaugrana are already all but out of the Champions League.

There will be no remontada, as there was at this stage in 2017 when Barca somehow recovered from a 4-0 first-leg defeat in Paris to win 6-1 in the return.

Back then, Messi had Neymar and Luis Suarez alongside him in attack. Now he is accompanied by players who are simply not good enough for such a great club.

Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann, who partnered Messi in Tuesday’s trident, cost Barcelona a combined €265 million.

Both signings have been a disaster – and they perfectly sum up just how badly Barcelona have been managed both on and off the pitch.

In addition to this European disaster, Barca also have no chance of winning this season’s other available major trophy. They are eight points behind La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid, having played a game more. Atletico’s top-scorer is Luis Suarez, who Barca gift-wrapped to them on a free transfer last summer.

Financially, Barcelona are rumoured to be close to bankruptcy – such is the economic turmoil engulfing the club.

Messi knows this is a club going up in flames. He knows that, at the age of 33, he has no chance of winning the Champions League again with Barcelona.

And he knows that if he were to join PSG, he would form a quite mouth-watering frontline with Neymar – who was out injured tonight – and hat-trick hero Mbappe.

A Messi-Mbappe-Neymar trident would be up there with the famed MSN from Barcelona. It is an attack that Messi knows would seriously challenge for the Champions League.

Barcelona fans can insult PSG’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi all they want, but the sad truth is that they can’t blame Messi for jumping this sinking ship.