Former President of Spanish La Liga giants Real Madrid, Ramon Calderon, has noted that the talisman of FC Barcelona Lionel Messi was hurt by the humiliating defeat Barca suffered in the hands of Bayern Munich.
The German Bundesliga champions that just won the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League title defeated Barcelona 8-2 in the quarter-finals stage of the European prestigious club competition. The 8-2 scoreline which happened to be the heaviest defeat a club has ever suffered in a single match at that stage of the competition knocked out Barcelona from the competition.
That was the worst among all the catastrophe the club suffered in their trophy-less 2019-2020 season. That was also the nail on the coffin for the ousted manager of the club Quique Setien. Since then, the crisis at the club has continued to pile up.
The biggest shake-up the whole Spanish La Liga would not want to see is losing Lionel Messi to another European league or a club outside Spain just like how the league lost Portuguese football icon, Cristiano Ronaldo, to Italian Serie A club Juventus.
Ronaldo left Real Madrid in 2018 for Juventus at the peak of the competitiveness between him and Messi. They were both on 5 Ballon d’Or each then and Ronaldo was looking forward to winning his 6th in 2018 but unfortunately for him, the award went to his former teammate at Real Madrid, Luka Modrić.
Since then, Lionel Messi has continued his sole dominance of La Liga winning the highest goalscorer award consecutively and won the 2019 Ballon d’Or to make it a record 6 Ballon d’Or.
Why Lionel Messi Must Stay
Since Ronaldo left Spain, the media attention on the league has been divided which has affected the rave around the prestigious El-Classico which is usually a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. If Messi leaves the league this summer, it would greatly reduce the attention on the league in the forthcoming season.
Ex-Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon said: “It would be really hurtful for the image, the quality, the show [in La Liga if Messi went],
“We have been really lucky having Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi playing in our league for the past 10 years, the best two players in the world by far. They won’t be here anymore, neither of them will be with us. It is really hurtful for our league and for the fans.”
“Recent events have surely made Messi upset. It is a weird time because he is a winner, as Barcelona used to be.
“The defeat against Bayern has hurt him a lot, for sure. That makes Messi reconsider his future, especially because there will be a World Cup in two years. I am sure he is aiming to be there and to win the cup. So, he has probably thought the future of Barcelona is not the best for his goals and he takes that decision.
“It has been a bit shocking for me because I thought he had already decided to finish his career at Barcelona, but it looks like these latest actions have influenced him to leave the club.”
