Barcelona‘s veteran defender Gerard Pique has decided to spark up the crisis that rocked the club from August to September where the club’s talisman Lionel Messi wrestled to leave the club but wasn’t able to do so.
Recall that after Bayern Munich humiliated Barcelona 8-2 and knocked out the Spanish club from the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in August, Lionel Messi wrote to the club that he was leaving. The fact that the 33-year-old Argentine football icon wanted to leave the club was not just the issue, Messi wanted to leave for free despite still having a season left on his contract. The club refused to let him have his way.
After a lengthy back and forth between Lionel Messi and Barcelona, the club succeeded in making the 6 times Ballon d’Or winner remain at the club.
When the 2020-2021 Spanish La Liga season resumed, the new football manager of the club, Ronald Koeman, always have a reason to complain about the performance of Lionel Messi, noting that the Argentine football icon can do more than he has been doing since the season resumed.
“We should preserve our figureheads, not underappreciate them,” Gerard Pique told La Vanguardia newspaper.
“It’s all too confrontational. What’s going on? Messi deserves everything; the new stadium should be named after him first and then the sponsor.
“I ask myself: How can it be that the best-ever player to have played the game, who we have been lucky enough to enjoy, wakes up one day and sends a Burofax (recorded delivery mail) because he feels like he’s not being listened to?”
Gerard Pique’s criticism is coming a night before the first El Classico of the season. FC Barcelona will play against their bitter rival Real Madrid on Saturday at 15:00. Ronald Koeman will be counting on Lionel Messi to bring out the best in him to defeat Zinedine Zidane’s men at the Nou Camp on Saturday.
Unfortunately for Messi and his teammates, Real Madrid’s captain and central-defender Sergio Ramos has fully recovered from his knee injury and the coach of Real Madrid has confirmed that he will be available for tomorrow’s game.
🛬👍 Touching down ahead of tomorrow's #ElClásico!@PalladiumHG | #MVPalladium pic.twitter.com/WMZMn0Me3w
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) October 23, 2020
“Sergio is our captain, our leader,” said Zidane. “He’s recovered, he’s going to be with us. It’s about being one hundred percent though newly-promoted that Sergio is already there.”
In his absence, Real Madrid lost 2-3 to Shakhtar Donetsk in a Champions League match on October 21. Before then, Madrid lost 0-1 to newly promoted La Liga side Cadiz in the league on October 17.
