Forced to stay at Barca: Messi
COVID-19 HIT CZECH BEAT SLOVAKIA
In League ‘B’, a Czech staff member tested positive for the Coronavirus the second such case in the team’s squad this week before a 3-1 win in Slovakia.
After the match, the Czech federation said the team’s home match against Scotland on Monday in Olomouc would not take place due to additional Cororonavirus concerns.
The Czech plans ahead of the Slovakia match had been affected after West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek and RB Leipzig striker Patrik Schick were told to self-isolate after coming into contact with the staff member who tested positive.
In League ‘C’, Kazakhstan won 2-0 in Lithuania and Albania won by the same score in Belarus. —
Madrid, Sept. 5: Lionel Messi said he will stay at Barcelona but only because the club’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu broke his word to let him leave.
Messi’s stinging attack on Bartomeu and the club means his future still remains in doubt.
Even if he is not allowed to go this summer, 33-yearold Messi can negotiate with other teams from January 1 and leave for free when his contract expires in July.
Bartomeu could yet respond with his resignation, having previously indicated he would step down if Messi publicly said he was the problem and agreed to stay.
“It has been a long time since there has been a project or anything at all,” Messi said in an explosive interview with Goal.
“I believed that the club needed more young people, new people and I thought my time in Barcelona was over, feeling very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.
“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new goals, new horizons.
“It wasn’t because of the Champions League result against Bayern, I had been thinking about it for a long time. I told the pres
ident and the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not end up keeping his word,” he added.
Barcelona ended the season without a trophy for the first time since 2008.
Messi said his decision to leave left his wife and three sons distraught.
“When I told my family that I could go it was a drama. They all started crying,” he said.
Despite his unhappiness at having to stay, the Argentinian insists he will give his all for the team next season under
new coach Ronald Koeman, who is trying to overhaul the squad.
“I am going to continue at Barca and my attitude is not going to change, no matter how much I have wanted to go,” Messi said.
“I will do my best. I always want to win, I am competitive and I don’t like to lose ever,” he added.
“There is a new coach and a new idea. That’s good, but then we have to see how the team responds and if it means we can compete or not. What I can say is that I’m staying and I’m going to give my best,” the Argentine said. —