Footage has emerged of Barcelona fans showing their respect and admiration for the now-departed Lionel Messi.
After 20 years of building his reputation as one of the greatest players in the history of the beautiful game, Messi’s tenure at the Nou Camp came to an end just over a week ago – and shortly afterwards, he was announced as the newest member of Paris Saint-Germain’s first-team squad.
The legend of Lionel
It was a hard pill to swallow for most Barcelona supporters, many of whom grew up watching and idolising Messi from his younger days all the way through to his time as one of the club’s most established veterans.
Barca opened up their La Liga campaign over the weekend against Real Sociedad and while the crowd capacity was reduced due to COVID-19, the fans in attendance were still quick to voice their support for the Argentine in the 10th minute of the match.
Ronald Koeman’s men went on to win 4-2 over Sociedad with a series of players shining on the big stage in the absence of Messi.
We can’t imagine they’ll be quite as forgiving if the GOAT ever comes face to face with his former side in the Champions League, but then again, he wasn’t really responsible for his exit thanks to the financial restrictions put in place by La Liga.
The next step of the grieving process for the Barca faithful will be to move forward and get behind the team they’ve been left with. After all, there are still some real superstars in the squad such as Gerard Pique, Pedri, Memphis Depay, Antoine Griezmann and Sergio Aguero to name but a few.
This coming Saturday, they’ll all hope to play a featured role when Barcelona’s post-Messi run in the league continues against Athletic Bilbao.
Featured image credit: Getty