10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[Flavia]

Former Barcelona star Hristo Stoichkov:



The Bulgarian claims the club are "in chaos" and says they must do everything in their power to make the Argentina forward feel happy at Camp Nou

Former Barcelona star Hristo Stoichkov has criticised the club for their treatment of Lionel Messi and warned the Argentina international could leave if he is not "protected and pampered".

The 27-year-old has endured a frosty relationship with the club's board in recent months and was kept out of the starting line-up for the defeat to Real Sociedad on Sunday by coach Luis Enrique after being granted an extended Christmas break.

Stoichkov believes the club must do their utmost to make the player feel at home again at Camp Nou in order to keep him until the end of his career.

"The problems Messi has encountered all came from within the club. There's been talks about fines, contract talks, advertising issues..." Stoichkov told Onda Cero.

"You have to protect and pamper the best player in the world. Messi should finish his career at Barcelona and nowhere else. The club should look after him and pamper him.

"Tell me the name of one foreign player who did not leave the club through the back door in the end..."

Barcelona fired sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta on Monday after he criticised president Josep Maria Bartomeu in the wake of their transfer ban being upheld with Carles Puyol, next in line behind Zubizarreta, quitting shortly after.

And Stoichkov, who feels the Catalans are "in chaos", is concerned that the identity and philosophy of the club are under real threat.

"I think Barcelona are in chaos at the moment. Everything's been turned upside down," he added.

"They could return to the days of Louis van Gaal, where they won the title, but only 13,000 people came to the stadium. Barcelona are going down that road again.

"Barcelona are following the same path they followed under [Joan] Gaspart. They spent millions and millions on players who are worthless and not even 20,000 fans showed up. This could very well happen again.

Hristo always spot on. I wish he was part of the next board.

 

[xxxxxx]

If Messi really joins Chelsea, I would be very disappointed with him. I know he's done a lot for this club, and I will forever be greatful to him, but if he really joins a team that is managed by Mourinho, he'd loose a lot of credit in my opinion. Maybe it's really time for him for new challenges, but to play under orders of a man, who tried to harm and destroy Barcelona and Messi with every weapon he had, would make me really sad and would cast a little shadow over Messi's great times i think.
But nontheless, I try to be optimistic and hope, that the only thing Leo wants to force with his recent actions is to put pressure on the board and on Luis Enrique, so that they have to leave instead of him.

Messi has just had enough of this incompetent board, so he doesn't care where he'll play next. I also find very strange why he would all of a sudden start following Chelsea and Chelsea players. Why now?

I'm not saying Messi is going to leave, but I don't think it's impossible of him leaving. He's had problems with the board before Enrique came in. As long as Bartomeu is still here, Messi won't be happy.

 

[Flavia]

Most of the bcn press seems to agree Messi went to the club today to be checked by the doctors. That was it.

 

[Neimax]

Messi has just had enough of this incompetent board, so he doesn't care where he'll play next. I also find very strange why he would all of a sudden start following Chelsea and Chelsea players. Why now?

I'm not saying Messi is going to leave, but I don't think it's impossible of him leaving. He's had problems with the board before Enrique came in. As long as Bartomeu is still here, Messi won't be happy.

I konw it's possible that Messi could leave, and I could also understand him if he wants to go somwhere else, but not to Mourinho for god's sake. If he'd join City or PSG, I would have no problem, but he simply can't join a team that's managed be Mou. Remember what he's done during his time at Madrid.

 

[klc123]

Look at the stats there is no doubt it is harder for the other attacking players with Messi in the team. It is not coincidence that Suarez, Neymar, Villa, Ibrahimovich all look/looked frustrated and fairly average compared to their form at other clubs.

Most of that is not Messi fault though as the coachs have built a system to purely suit him and the other players are in awe of him and defer to him far too often.

Messi is the best passer of a final ball I have ever seen and has the best assist stats in europe but nevertheless it is hard for other forwards to play in the same team as him.

For me two options -

1. Messi stays and style changes to suit other players. Messi is part of the system not the whole system. He improves his off the ball movement and pressing.

2. Messi is sold.

Hope to fuck it is the first option but for me I just cant see how the current system based so heavily on Messi can ever work.

What do you mean it's hard for other forwards to play with him? David Villa and Pedro both scored 25 goals each in their best season, with Messi playing down the center. Barca have been performing badly since that season. Any striker will struggle to score goals when the entire team is playing poorly. The only reason Messi was still scoring lots is because he is Messi. Neymar should be fine with Messi, he has always played on the wing. Suarez hasn't been great because he is adapting to the role of playing in wider positions rather than the out and out striker.

 

[DinhoR10]

All our problems are due to lucho honestly, last season we beat Real Madrid 4-3 and 2-1 with both 33/34 year old Xavi and 29/30 year old Iniesta in midfield, had neymar scored xavi's pass or Valdes not been injured trophies could have even been won. Theres no fucking way every single one of our players could have declined over the summer, no fucking way. I'm not saying Xavi and Iniesta should be better this season or the team as a whole for that matter but honestly if Lucho had just copied Tata's or Tito's systems we'd be on top of the table right now with points to spare too probably. I don't see whats so hard about playing your best players and rotate sparingly. Has he even seen Rakitic take a freekick? Its basically a guaranteed shot on goal. Jesus christ.

The only thing i'll lay off him for is Suarez since he's obviously not used to being marked by 3 players to such a high degree of intensity and as he realized La Liga is about speed and skill so they won't be turned like in the EPL.

 

[linetty]

Suarez played his worst game of the season without Leo on the pitch

 

[bismp]

All our problems are due to Lucho and the board.

Fixed that for you

 

[DinhoR10]

Fixed that for you

The board should have bought Benatia and kroos but Tata,Tito and Pep would have all had this squad playing good football.

 

[linetty]

"Tell me the name of one foreign player who did not leave the club through the back door in the end..."

Messi is not like every other player

 

[Egert]

 

[doublehh03]

None of them respect Lucho (Messi, Neymar, Alves, and Pique - 4 of your most expensive players). This guy is clueless. He's a manager, and yet he doesn't know how to manage.

 

[xxxxxx]

Am I missing something here....Why are people wanting messi to leave us? He is the best player we will EVER have. Without him we are a poor team, just like the first half of sociedad..

Messi will stay. I bet xavi, iniest, puyol and laporta have all been speaking to him telling him to stay. Push for summer elections, laporta in, xavi manager, we are laughing! Leo is just childish, it's part of his personality. It's who he is, and we've got to remember that, although this is really concerning and I can't believe it has escalated this quickly, so so,etching must be going on. But I'm sure he will stay!

Nobody is asking for Messi to leave. It's just Messi is clearly not happy..... and hasn't been happy for a while. For the first time, I just think there's a real possibility of him leaving Barcelona.

Messi has to decide whether he wants to continue to play under these circumstances or try for a new challenge while he's still young enough. You also have to consider, we can't sign anyone for a good while, so we're not going to be able to compete with teams like Real or Bayern; Messi might feel Barcelona won't be able to win the big trophies for a good while because of the quality we don't have.

 

[doublehh03]

Nobody is asking for Messi to leave. It's just Messi is clearly not happy..... and hasn't been happy for a while. For the first time, I just think there's a real possibility of him leaving Barcelona.

Messi has to decide whether he wants to continue to play under these circumstances or try for a new challenge while he's still young enough. You also have to consider, we can't sign anyone for a good while, so we're not going to be able to compete with teams like Real or Bayern; Messi might feel Barcelona won't be able to win the big trophies for a good while because of the quality we don't have.

Messi is having a great season. Happy or not, he's as motivated as ever to want to win. Winning cures everything literally. As long as the team has some sense of direction, I'm sure he is willing to be patient.

Hopefully yesterday is the start of that sense of direction.

 

[xxxxxx]

Messi is having a great season. Happy or not, he's as motivated as ever to want to win. Winning cures everything literally. As long as the team has some sense of direction, I'm sure he is willing to be patient.

Hopefully yesterday is the start of that sense of direction.

Whether Messi is motivated or not, he still doesn't have a good enough squad to compete with Real, Chelsea or Bayern, and probably won't for a good while. Messi can't win all those trophies on his own, so it's unlikely we're going to win a big trophy for a good while. Messi has been patient enough with this incompetent board, so why should he wait any longer? We all know things can't change when Bartomeu is still in charge.

And there is no new direction until Bartomeu is still there. He's using all the others as scapegoats. I mean, we could get a new manager in, but there's no guarantees he'll be any good or he'll get on with the players.