Former Barcelona President Takes Aim at Messi: "Barça Is Above Him"

Joan Gaspart, former Barcelona president whose tenure paved the way for 13-year-old Lionel Messi to join the club, stated in sharp remarks that Barcelona holds a higher standing than the Argentine star. He also spoke about his position on Messi's farewell to the fans.

The former president of Barcelona, ​​who Messi became Barca during his time, used the harshest words against Leo in a strange interview and even claimed that the new generation does not know him at all!

According to Sports Three, Juan Gaspart, the manager who helped Leo Messi join Barcelona when he was 13 years old, took a sharp stance against legend Arza in a controversial interview and said that no one, even Leo, is allowed to bet on Laporta.

Juan Gaspart is a strange and talkative figure in Catalonia. For some time, he was very successful as an activist in the field of hotels and made a name for himself. He was the vice president of Barcelona for 22 years from 1978 to 2000, and in 2000 he took over the chair of the club's president, although he had to leave this position three seasons later and handed over Barca while the club was struggling in a big financial and sports crisis. Despite this unsuccessful managerial record, Gaspart's name will forever be recorded in football history. why Because he will forever be remembered as the boss who opened the doors of Barcelona to Lionel Messi. When the 13-year-old Messi from Rosario, Argentina came to Catalonia with a thousand hopes and dreams and with the support of Josep Maria Mingla and Carles Rexach, the then sports director of Barca, Gaspart was the president of the club, and for this reason, the discovery of Messi is credited to him anyway.

Taking this background into consideration, Gaspart's new words about Messi for Barça are very shocking. The 82-year-old manager, who has close ties to current club president Juan Laporta, lashed out at Messi on the Solo Para Coles TV podcast.

In this podcast, Gaspart was asked about whether it is possible for Leo Messi to return to Nou Camp to say goodbye to the fans and have an official ceremony for him. (Something similar to the historic and emotional farewell that the Argentines had prepared for the national team). The interviewer mentioned that this should have been done for Leo five years ago, but it is not too late.

Gaspart started his strange talk like this: "As a footballer, Leo is the best player in the world. "There is only one thing that should not be forgotten, and that is that Barça is higher than him."

He then made his tone even sharper: "Messi has to be careful, he has to concentrate a lot." I say this out of my love for this history-making player who I signed when he came here at the age of thirteen and I was the president of Barça. Messi must be very careful because Barcelona is higher than his character. "He has become such a great player partly thanks to Barca and that is not something anyone wants to forget."

These strange statements became clearer in the continuation of the interview with Gasport's all-out defense of Laporta. Let's remember that Laporta is the manager who gave Messinshan the exit door in 2021.

Gaspart said: "I'll give him a break for now, but if one day I see Leo Messi give the smallest excuse to come to Barca and say goodbye to the fans and this club, I will be upset. "It doesn't matter who is the boss, anyone wants to be the boss, he should come and say goodbye to Barça."

The former president of the Blaugrana continued: "What was Messi thinking to himself? Are you saying that Leo Messi made a bet and said that he will not come because Laporta is the boss, and that he will only come when Laporta is not there? How is this possible? Betting on Laporta? If there is such a condition, I myself will not go to that commemoration ceremony.

The fact is that Messi never claimed that Laporta should not be present at a possible honoring ceremony for him. But everyone has seen that Laporta had promised to keep Messi before becoming president, but then he suddenly cut off the contract renewal process under the pretext of setting the La Liga salary cap so that Leo could go to Paris Saint-Germain.

In the final part of his speech, Gaspart told a strange memory of his family and said: "I have four results and I went to the store to buy Barça shirts for them. I asked them which name should I put on the back of the shirt, Messi or Lamine Yamal? Their answer was: Grandfather, please call Lamine. Then they asked me a more strange question: What was that other name you said? My results asked me who was Leo Messi at all? I told them he was a good player, a great player who for many is the best in history."