‘Barcelona is bigger than him!’ – Former president Joan Gaspart hits out at Lionel Messi over tribute delay

Gaspart warned that his patience is wearing thin and pledged to boycott any tribute if the forward insists on waiting for a change in club leadership.

Continuing his remarks on the same podcast, the former president refused to accept political caveats: “He is a great player, the best in the world, partly – I won’t say what percentage – thanks to Barca. Therefore, he cannot forget that. Because of that, I’m still giving him a grace period, but a day will come when it will start to bother me if Mr Messi puts even the slightest obstacle in the way of coming to Barca to say goodbye to the fans.

“Whoever the president may be, whoever the president may be, he must come and say goodbye to Barca. If Leo Messi only comes to say goodbye the day Laporta is no longer here, and refuses to come because Laporta is the president, I wouldn’t give him a tribute. Who does he think he is? To make coming to Barcelona conditional on whether Laporta is there or not. If Laporta wasn’t there [because of that condition], I wouldn’t attend that tribute.”