Editions
Los 40 USA
Scores
Follow us on
Hello

BARCELONA

Messi: "Anything I did was always with club's best interests in mind"

Camp Nou captain Lionel Messi has called for unity, telling Sport: “I take responsibility for my errors and if they existed, it was only to make FC Barcelona better and stronger."

Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi runs with the ball during the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona against Villarreal CF at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on September 27, 2020. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)
JOSEP LAGOAFP

In an interview with Sport in which he sought to strike a conciliatory tone, Lionel Messi has issued a call for unity as Barcelona look to bounce back from a trophy-less 2019/20 campaign under new head coach Ronald Koeman.

"It was only to make FC Barcelona better and stronger"

In the wake of a summer in which Messi unsuccessfully attempted to leave Barça and was publicly critical of Camp Nou president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board, the captain assured the Blaugrana supporters: “Anything I did was always with the club's best interests in mind.”

After so many disagreements, I would like to bring an end to everything,” Messi told Sport, in excerpts of an interview which is to be published in the Catalonia-based newspaper on Wednesday. “We all have to be united and assume that the best is yet to come.

“I take responsibility for my errors and if they existed, it was only to make FC Barcelona better and stronger."

The 33-year-old added: “Uniting passion with excitement and motivation will be the only way to achieve our objectives, always united and rowing in the same direction.

Messi message to Barcelona supporters

"I wanted to send a message to all the socios and fans that follow us. If at any moment, any of them were annoyed by something that I said or did, let there be no doubts that anything I did was always with the club's best interests in mind."

Argentine on target as Koeman era begins with win

In what was Koeman's first competitive match in charge, Messi scored one from the penalty spot on Sunday as Barça began their 2020/21 season with a 4-0 LaLiga victory over Villarreal.