Messi and Barcelona, an already irreparably damaged bond

I want to understand something in all of this and the truth is that with every minute that passes, I understand it less and less. I thought it would be the other way around, that as time passed the departure of Lionel Messi would be much cleaner and the tide would turn. In any case, you have to separate the background from the reality. The situation is incredible. He's the team captain, the emblem of the club, the living legend, the idol. Everything. Everyone agreed, even the Barcelona fans, the neutrals and even anti-Barcelona fans, a burofax? That's crazy. If one day Messi was to leave Barcelona, which seems imminent, it cannot happen in this manner.

He's hurt himself, he's hurt many people who have idolised his football and the Barcelona teams he has represented and he's hurt the institution that has given him everything, and I'm not even talking about how much they've paid him over the years. They have given him everything they could, he arrived as a child and became a man wearing the Blaugrana colours. I don't think this is the time to analyse who has given more to whom, but rather to find out why we have got to this point.

Everything I read and hear doesn't suit an exit of this type, a painful divorce with clear irreparable emotional consequences for both parties.

I leave money out of the equation, because I don't wish to believe that this is the reason for all this. An ending of a journey of this type must be managed in such a way that the parties can look each other in the eye after it is over. As the outcome doesn't appear to have a reasonable and emotionally understandable background for either party, this is going to be the nonsense of this century. I don't care about the legal proceedings, the possible litigation, the clause, Messi's next club or the possible resignation of president Bartomeu. All these seems to me to be of lower importance compared to the damage to the heart of Barcelona that Messi was for many years. I don't know if he continues to see the club in the same way.

He was the pride of so many days of glory, but nobody understands anything that is going on. It's hard to believe that Messi thinks another club will treat him with more affection, respect and admiration than the one who led him to be the best player in the world. Furthermore, is there a place where he can win more titles and be surrounded by players who have won everything with him, like many of his current teammates?

Really, dear reader, unless Messi speaks and tells us something clear I honestly don't understand anything about this. Of course, in the meantime it's important that he fulfils his duties as captain and as the Barcelona player that he still is. All the rest is noise and it is seeing him lose respect and the unanimous credibility that he has enjoyed since he broke into the senior team at Barcelona. The emotional damage of this is irreparable, unless the story is solid and credible.

Let him make his choice, everyone is free to do what they want if they are not bound by a commitment or a contract, but the forms are elementary. The legal processes have started, but Messi without Barcelona will not be the same and the club will miss him. However, the club will continue to exist and the team will win again, and when the pandemic allows the fans will once again fill the Camp Nou, even if it's not Messi wearing the No.10 shirt.