Barcelona forward Lionel Messi described the club’s Copa del Rey win this season as a “turning point,” but gave no indication of his own future in Catalonia in an interview published in the Argentine press on Saturday.
Messi, who was allowed to skip Barcelona’s final La Liga game on Saturday in order to prepare for the Copa America, is out of contract at the end of June, although negotiations are reported to be ongoing.
The 33-year-old, however, praised the dressing room, which he described as “very young, with a lot of new players” and the excitement generated by the 4-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final, Barca’s first trophy in two years.
“The truth is that the last Copa del Rey was special because of the moment we were in,” Messi told sports daily Ole.
“The club is coming out of two years where we were not good.
“This Copa del Rey was a turning point for the dressing room, and a very important turning point. And beyond that, on a personal level, I like to win and win titles.
“And the more there are, the better it is.”
The Argentine legend has scored 30 league goals this season and is almost guaranteed to finish “Pichichi” — top scorer in La Liga — for the eighth time in his career.
With negotiations still under way, his future at the club he joined as a 13-year-old remains in doubt as he has been linked with a move to Manchester City where he could join up with former coach Pep Guardiola.
If he does not extend, his last match for Barcelona will go down as the 2-1 defeat by Celta Vigo last Sunday which extinguished the Catalans’ hopes of another La Liga title.
مباراة الاتحاد القادمه
Lionel Messi scored twice, including a stunning solo goal, as Barcelona blew away Athletic Bilbao to win the Copa del Rey on Saturday, consigning their opponents to a second final defeat in two weeks.
The cup was won and lost in a whirlwind 12 minutes in Seville, which saw Barca score four times to clinch an emphatic 4-0 victory, with Messi at his devastating best.
It remains to be seen if his seventh Copa del Rey triumph is the last trophy Messi lifts in Barcelona colors but if this was to be a final flourish, the 33-year-old crafted a fitting farewell.
“It’s very special to be captain of this team where I have spent my whole life and very special to be able to lift this cup,” Messi said.
His first goal, and Barca’s third, started with the Argentinian in his own half before a charging run down the right and a surge forward into the penalty area gave him the chance for a simple finish.
With the club’s new president Joan Laporta in the crowd, Ronald Koeman’s first title as Barcelona coach should also significantly boost his chances of remaining in charge beyond the summer.
“To win a title is important for me,” Koeman admitted afterwards.
Yet Laporta was noticeably evasive when asked about Koeman’s future.
“He is doing well,” he said.
Koeman took over a team at rock bottom, humiliated by a historic loss to Bayern Munich and wounded by the attempts of Messi to leave the club for free.
But this 31st Copa del Rey success for the club is a testament to progress made and Koeman will hope it not only helps convince Messi to stay but gives Barca momentum now in a neck-and-neck title race in La Liga.
