Messi's cold reaction to Laporta

Messi's farewell was emotional. It is clear that he didn’t want to leave and that from his point of view he did everything possible to fit his contract into the current circumstances. From his point of view, I say, because he was going to be earn five years’ salary for the work of two. But Laporta had given him plenty of hope, he was sure he’d stay and suddenly found himself out on the street looking for a new club in a hurry. That won’t be too much of a challenge for him, but wherever he goes, presumably Paris, his family won't be as comfortable as they are in Castelldefels. He has already said that he has promised his children that they will return. The family was present at the farewell event, as was Laporta, with whom Messi was rather cold.

Barça’s utter madness

As is often the case, actions speak louder than words. Laporta won with a positive presidential campaign, launched with his "I look forward to seeing you again" slogan (which now takes on a new meaning, seeing him hand-in-hand with Florentino Pérez) and fuelled by his stream of optimism. But he has not been able to sort out the players who would have saved him a lot of money: Dembélé, Coutinho and Griezmann, but instead others less relevant. Nor was he able to convince Piqué, Busquets, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto to reduce their wages by 40 per cent. Still he continued to make signings: Memphis, Eric García, Agüero and Emerson. He had to admit that the cost of the squad was already 110% of the club's income. It’s utter madness.

Laporta not rectifying his inherited hole

Yet he has continued to peddle optimism right up to the day of the collapse. Now he's attempting to direct the blame at Tebas’ feet, but Messi was conspicuously cold with him on Sunday. “Did Barça do everything possible?" he was asked. "I don't know," was his reply. He would later say he has no problem with Tebas. It was clear that his disappointment had, above all, to do with the expectations that Laporta had given him, those that suddenly collapsed at his appearance on Friday, where he drew that disastrous image that did not just happen overnight. Yes, it is a deep hole that he inherited, but one that he has done nothing to remedy and instead has put everything into selling smoke and mirrors.