How did they let it come to this, is the question all Barcelona fans will be askingThe end is getting nearer, Lionel Messi said the night he collected his sixth Ballon d’Or. It was hard enough for Barcelona fans to accept then; it is harder now, and not just because eight months on it is closer and more real than ever. This isn’t really that Messi is going; it’s when he’s going, why he’s going, and how he’s going. The president insisted there was Messi para rato – a lot of Messi left – and that phrase covered both Catalan sports dailies, something a little needy, a little desperate, in the headline. Not for the rest of football of course – there will be excitement at seeing him elsewhere, the electricity of expectation – but for Barcelona fans.

Source: The Guardian August 26, 2020 19:02 UTC