What were some of Lionel Messi's most defining moments with FC Barcelona?
After 21 fruitful years with FC Barcelona, Lionel Messi has dropped a piece of news that left his loyal supporters in shock—the team’s most lucrative player is leaving with a possible move to French club Paris St Germain.
In a press conference over the weekend, a tearful Messi announced that he was leaving the Spanish league after the former said it could no longer afford to pay his high wages.
Messi said that he is prepared to shoulder 50 per cent of the wage in order to stay and sign a new contract, but was unable to finalise the deal due to the club's huge debts. “We had everything agreed, but at the last minute, it couldn’t happen; this year, I wanted to stay and I couldn’t,” the player said.
For many fans, Messi is a football icon whose legacy under Barcelona cannot be forgotten. In this article, Tatler writes some of the most unforgettable feats and facts about the player.
1. Messi dedicates his wins to his late grandmother
Messi dedicates all his 671 goals to Celia Oliveira Cuccittini, his late grandmother. If you’re a big Barcelona fan, you may have noticed that every time the player scores, his arms and eyes automatically point up to the sky.
Cuccittini, who played a big role in Messi’s sports career, died in 1998 when the latter was just 11 years old. According to the superstar, it was his grandmother who urged him to play.
“I was small, we would all go to the neighbourhood club to where the whole family always went; my brother and cousins would all play, each in their respective category as we were all of different ages,” Messi shared. “I was one of the youngest ones and therefore there were no categories for me yet, but one of them was missing a player and so my grandmother told the manager ‘to let me play’,” he added.
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