- Title: Real Madrid fans sad to see rival Messi leaving
- Date: 5th August 2021
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID FAN, ANDREA, SAYING: "It's going to be complicated because La Liga is no longer going to be the same. Messi was everything for Barca, and now it's going to be strange." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID FAN, ALONSO, SAYING: "It could be that he goes to Paris Saint-Germain and we can bring Mbappe. It's a possibility. For me, it's happy news, fun of course." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID FAN, JESUS, SAYING: "It's a loss for Spanish football. If a top player like Messi goes, if he is from Barcelona or any team it's bad. This is like when Cristiano Ronaldo left. Spanish football loses. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID FAN, FABIOLA, SAYING: "Football in general loses, but I also think that they have their job here. He is 34 years old and Messi has given the best of him. We wish him luck because he has given a lot to football." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID FAN, JESUS SAYING: "It's a big loss and football will generate less money and we have less important players. We will notice that."
- Embargoed: 19th August 2021 21:55
- Keywords: Barca Departure El Clasico Fans Lionel Messi Messi Real Madrid
- Location: MADRID, SPAIN
- City: MADRID, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Europe,Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA003EP09I6F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Real Madrid fans on Thursday (August 5) said Spanish football will not be the same without arch-rival Lionel Messi.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner will leave Barcelona despite both parties having reached an agreement over a new contract, the La Liga club said earlier in the day, citing economic and structural obstacles to the renewal of the deal.
"I think that for Real Madrid this is bad news. At the end of the day, even though Messi is an F.C. Barcelona player he made the Spanish championship more attractive," Real Madrid fan Ian said outside one of his club´s shop in central Madrid.
"It's a loss for Spanish football. If a top player like Messi goes if he is from Barcelona or any team it's bad," said Jesus, a 60-year old Real Madrid fan.
Messi, who joined Barca's youth set-up aged 13, is the club's all-time top scorer and appearance maker with 672 goals in 778 games in all competitions.
The Argentina forward was free to negotiate a transfer with other clubs after his deal ran out at the end of June, but Barcelona had always maintained he wanted to stay with the club.
Messi, who has spent his whole career at Barcelona, had been expected to sign a new five-year deal with the Catalan club, which would have included a salary reduction of 50%.
Barcelona needed to financially restructure in order to get the deal over the line, which proved impossible in the end as they failed to reduce their wage bill and stay within La Liga's Financial Fair Play regulations.
The news of Messi's exit comes a day after La Liga agreed in principle to sell 10% of a newly formed company housing most of its business to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for 2.7 billion euros ($3.2 billion).
(Produccion: Marco Trujillo, Michael Gore, Anna Valderrama) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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