John Laportapresident of Barcelona, confirmed this Tuesday that the Catalan club will honor Lionel Messibut he announced that this ceremony will take place when the captain of the Argentine national team and his family so decide.
“We are open to doing it whenever they want. Messi is the best player in history and, because we respect and admire him, of course he deserves a tribute at Can Barça”assured the leader about the man from Rosario, who is the footballer who has played more games (778), scored more goals (672), delivered more assists (305) and won more titles (35) with the Blaugrana shirt.
In an interview published by the Spanish agency EFE, Laporta revealed that there had been talk of a tribute to Messi when the real option of Leo returning to Barcelona was raised in the middle of the year. after separating from Paris Saint-Germain, but that, as this did not occur, “he was left in limbo a bit”.
“In the end it didn’t happen, because what he told us was totally logical: that due to the pressure he had been under in Paris, he preferred to go to Inter Miami, because that would give him a certain stability. A decision that we respect,” Laporta explained. .
In any case, the leader of the Catalan club took the tribute for granted, although he could not set a date. “I don’t know if it will be when we return to the Spotify Camp Nou at the end of 2024 or when the stadium is fully built by July 2026”he pointed.
At the time of its reopening, the Camp Nou will have a capacity of 70,000 spectators and, however, when the work is completed, it will have 105,000 seats, which would make the tribute to the best footballer who has passed through the club in all its history.
“There will be time to talk about it,” summarized Laporta, who ruled out, however, that Messi could play an official match again with Barça on loan from Inter Miami. “News of all kinds come out, but I believe that this is not even allowed by FIFA,” he said.