One Lionel Messi More authentic than ever, he closed 2021 with a message true to his style, putting his emotions into words without looking for diplomacy or forms. Thus, the year that he had consecrated himself as champion of the America Cup And suffering an unexpected change of home in Europe, forced to move from Barcelona to Paris, he took the opportunity to greet his fans and, incidentally, insult the coronavirus.
“I can only give thanks for everything that I had to live in this 2021. Even more so when a lot of people had a really bad time because of the virus this shit that never ends“Leo began his posting on Instagram, which quickly went viral on the networks.
And he added: “I hope 2022 brings a lot of health, which is what I wish you all for the new year. I hug you all !!!” In the year in which you will have to prove what the Paris Saint Germain and he will play what may be his last World Cup in Qatar 2022, Messi remembered health. You don’t need to ask for anything else. He nailed her at the angle.
Leo Messi’s message to close an unforgettable 2021 in his career.
Messi’s 2021
Barely 8 thousand people can enter the Alcoraz stadium where the Sociedad Deportiva Huesca acts as a venue. There on January 3 and with a yellow shirt, Lionel Messi I still had number 10, formed the attack trident with Ousmane Dembelé and Martin Braithwaite, still led Ronald Koeman, I still played for him Barcelona, was turning his 500th game in LaLiga de España, had already overcome the burofax hot flash that left him reeling in the club of his loves, enjoyed maximum power before the recent resignation of Bartomeu and was preparing to vote for the first time in his 20 years in the Catalan entity.
His first game of the year ended with a 1-0 victory, three days later, on Three Kings Day, he scored a double to win 3-2 in Seville and three days later he repeated the two cries in the win against Granada.
At the other end of the year, the Stade Moustoir jumps to the stadium to play the last game of 2021, before packing the suitcases and landing in Rosario for Christmas. He wears an alternative shirt again, it is white and with the number 30. Form an attack trio with your compatriots Mauro Icardi Y Angel Di Maria, directed by Mauricio Pochettino, defends the colors of the Paris Saint Germain and draws 1-1 against Lorient. A detail: when he arrives at his house, in addition to his family, now a replica of the America Cup that won.
Messi, posing with Nasser Al Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint Germain. Photo: Xinhua
From end to end. With less brightness than other times, with fewer goals than in other seasons, with unthinkable scenes, sudden changes, crying like never before and a new, publicly unpublished smile. It was the most extraordinary year of Messi’s career.
From his own words, while accumulating conquests in Champions, in the Spanish League, he raised Ballons d’Or and surpassed his own individual records, the Argentine star said to change all that for a championship with the shirt of the Selection. That is why click 2021 will be unforgettable.
Therefore, everything that happened after the victory against Brazil in the Maracana (nothing less) July 10 passed through the nuance of that conquest always postponed. Having grabbed the carrot that was so far away and seemed to never be left in his hands, the character gave himself the pleasure of giving a twist. If Messi recognizes that now he can look at his world in a different way, the audience also conceives him with the relaxation offered by the relief of deserved recognition.
The Qatar World Cup is coming, Clear. It could be your last chance at the max date. Or not. But the previous context mutated thanks to a dizzying, unexpected, dreamed 2021.
So many times it was said from the media pulpit that the Argentine context was not commensurate with the magnitude of Messi, that 2021 arrived to slap the entire chair. Not only did he finish undressing that in Barcelona, or in any European club, dirt can accumulate under the carpet as it happens in these latitudes, but he also showed that here, inside the Ezeiza property, in a warm, friendly, close environment, With genuine gestures that reflected scenes of adolescent happiness while on the court they returned collective maturity, here I could find that which no longer exists there.
The Messi family on vacation. Photo: Instagram @antonelaroccuzzo
What could it be Lionel Scaloni a prop with less resume but more street than Ronald Koeman. What could it be Chiqui Tapia a leadership and emotional support much more reliable than Bartomeu or Laporta, two presidents who with dissimilar styles showed similar threads.
The paradox of destiny wanted that on March 10, Messi lived his last sporting frustration with Barcelona on the field where he now plays home. That time, Paris Saint Germain left the culé team on the road in the second round of the Champions League. Leo scored a goal and missed a penalty in the 1-1 of the rematch in France. The story had been written a week before by Mbappé with a concert at the Camp Nou for the 4-1 that marked a new win against in the fetish tournament for the Argentine star.
He raised the Orejona in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015. From that moment, Juventus took them out with a landslide in the quarterfinals, Roma turned an epic match to eliminate it in the same instance the following year, Liverpool did the same in the semifinals, going from 0-3 in Spain to 4-0 historic at Anfield. And the most humiliating blow of all came in August 2020, in Lisbon for the quarterfinals of an edition that had to be defined as a single match due to the pandemic, and in which Bayern Munich crushed it 8-2.
That cataract of frustrations, added to the change of leadership in the club, the financial deficit that came to light due to the restrictions caused by the coronavirus and gestures that detonated the mood of the dressing room such as the ungrateful departure of Luis Suarez, they set the stage for what makes it high, after having overcome the bombing of the burofax, it seemed unthinkable would become possible.
After changing the history of the club, shouting 672 goals and winning 34 titles, the club announced the farewell with three paragraphs in which it detailed that “despite having reached an agreement between FC Barcelona and Leo Messi and with the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, no it may be formalized due to economic and structural obstacles ”.
The emotion of Messi at his Barcelona farewell press conference. Photo: EFE / Andreu Dalmau
The news was anachronistic. It came at a time when all the pieces seemed to have fit together to leave behind the ghosts of the breakup and sign the extension of the bond that would allow them to travel together the final stretch of an unforgettable career at the club that sheltered him when no one imagined what would finally happen. It happened when no one knew that Messi would be the best player in the world and the most important figure in Blaugrana history.
It also happened when Leo had already returned to Catalan soil after removing the biggest thorn of his career and lift a trophy with the National Team shirt. Just when his friend Sergio Agüero was waiting for him on campus to leave behind the recent ups and downs of a team seeking to recycle. When the relationship with the leadership had calmed down with the arrival of Joan Laporta to the presidency.
Then Messi’s surprise and the sadness of a 34-year-old man who was leaving a place where he wanted to stay forever was heard. The tears at the conference with Antonela, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro in the front row, and all their Barcelona teammates watching a historic exit.
Messi said. “The family was going to be turned upside down in their routine and the boys would have to change schools. It was the first time this had happened to me in my career. We had decided to stay in Barcelona until the end. It was very difficult, but the test could be passed. There was no choice but to leave. I had to find another club, because there weren’t enough resources to renew myself. When they issued the statement I began to wonder how I was going to recover. “
The French Revolution fell mature. For the Qatari investors who were not itching to get their bottomless wallet, for the Argentines who were waiting for him in the team and for the joint ambition to point to the Champions League with a team of superstars.
The football destiny of the team for now goes on top of a tombola. He will surely parade towards the title in the local competition, he already took 13 points from the guard, he wins when he plays well and does not lose when he plays badly. But must measure up in Europe. Expects nothing less than him Real Madrid, in the eighth of the Champions League. The millions invested by the Qataris have their ultimate goal in this trophy.
On June 27 he scored two goals against Bolivia at the Arena Pantanal stadium in Cuiabá to close the group stage of the Copa América. It was five years since the day I had said enough. Also in a Copa América, after the second frustration in a row in the final against Chile, from the United States he gave up playing in the National Team. “The decision is made. I’ve already tried a lot. It hurts me more than anyone not being able to be champion with Argentina. I’m leaving without being able to get it ”, she released through tears.
Now the tears are of joy. And the smile is new. He throws himself to the feet in the last action of the game and when the referee confirms that the curse was broken, the crack was kneeling, with his hands covering his face and generating a magnet for all the teammates who joined in the hug.
“I needed to get my thorn out and get something with the National Team. I knew that at some point it was going to happen,” he says on the Maracanã lawn. He repeats it at the Monumental when the Argentine public can return to the fields and receive him as a champion. He also repeats it in Paris when he receives his seventh Ballon d’Or.
The euphoria of the entire Argentine team, with Messi in the center of the scene and the Copa América at the top. Photo: AP Photo / Bruna Prado
He did not achieve it in 2012 when he scored 91 goals in 69 games, nor when he strengthened in his club with the luxury trident that he shared with Suárez and Neymar or in the best times with Pep Guardiola. Nor could he with elite coaches in the national team such as Tata Martino or Alejandro Sabella, nor with a profile that loomed revolutionary like Sampaoli’s or with a unique motivator like Maradona.
The thorn was removed when the context was perceived as the least consistent. With turbulence in Barcelona and a questioned transition in Argentina. That is why 2021 exceeds the ordinary for Messi. Even when his usual routine, as the calendars go by, it is about keeping the validity of a footballer for all time.
The wish for 2022 is obvious.
.