'F*ck you La Liga! F*ck you PSG! Messi stay!' Furious Barca fans gather at Camp Nou to protest star's exit (PHOTOS)
RT Sport has captured furious Barcelona giving a huge and literal 'f*ck you!' to La Liga bosses and a mooted offer from PSG for talisman Lionel Messi after the star's departure was confirmed due to league salary rules.
Barca were forced to part ways with Messi after a 21-year tenure at the club despite signing a new contract, citing “financial and structural obstacles” in preventing them doing a deal with perhaps the best player ever to play the game.
La Liga rules dictate no one club's wage bill can exceed 70% of their annual revenue; Barca's bill works out at 110% with the Argentine in the squad, meaning the club could not register their all-time top scorer, despite that figure being lowered to only 95% without him.
Frustrated fans haven't taken he news lying down with some gathering outside the iconic Camp Nou stadium to give a piece of their mind to club officials, where one fan pleaded with the 34-year-old to stay while warding off potential offer from PSG.
"F*ck you Tebas! F*ck you PSG! Messi stay!" read one fan's banner, captured by RT Sport's Barcelona reporter Tom Sanderson at the ground on Friday.
Thirty-year-old Andres Garcia, fan of Newell's Old Boys, the team at which Messi began his career in Argentina, arrived with a sign reading 'Messi, Newell's is your home', urging the player to return to his home country.
Messi has been out of contract since the end of June, and had agreed on a deal but the finer points of Spanish league's wage cap system put paid to a deal and a dramatic u-turn has been ruled out by club top brass.
“We’ve shaken our hands with Leo Messi. The new contract was done. Two years salary but paid until 2026," club president Joan Laporta said on Thursday.
Andres from Rosario is outside the Camp Nou demanding Messi goes home to Newell's Old Boys pic.twitter.com/eMsBa2g4Jw
— Tom Sanderson (@TomSandersonBCN) August 6, 2021
"It was 100% agreed, we had to sign yesterday. But then La Liga rules and reality came, I told to [Lionel's father] Jorge Messi yesterday...a cold shower.
“Leo Messi had other offers on the table but he wanted to stay, also if not proposal was inferior on financial point of view. He was NOT creating any problem, trust me - he did many financial efforts to stay here, the contract was agreed.”
“I spoke with Jorge Messi and Leo in the last hours... there’s no chance to continue together. We can’t go through because of the financial regulations, very sad but that’s it. New era.”
When questioned about Messi's rumoured talks of signing a contract with French giants PSG, Laporte responded: “You’ve to ask Leo Messi, not me. He’s the best player in the world so he’ll have many proposals on the table. Messi accepted our bid, but we can’t register him.”
Also on rt.com ‘No one is above the club’: Barcelona boss Laporta urges distraught fans ‘to confront reality’ as he explains Messi exit
