FC Barcelona Are A Europa League Team Without Lionel Messi, Whose Return From PSG Is Now ‘Improbable’

FC Barcelona have once again shown that without their greatest player of all time Lionel Messi, they are a Europa League team at best.

Though it is still mathematically possible for the Blaugrana to advance to the Champions League knockout phase, the club and their fans have pretty much accepted that last night’s 3-3 draw with Inter Milan has sentenced them to the Europa League for the second year running.

In a phenomenon that never happened once on Messi’s watch since progressing to the first team as a teenager in 2004, Barca will fail to make it out of the group in back-to-back seasons and it is no coincidence that this has only happened since Messi joined Paris Saint Germain on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.

“Barcelona without Messi is a Europa League level team. We’re here because in two consecutive seasons, we couldn’t beat Benfica, Inter or Bayern Munich on our own merit,” accepted Mundo Deportivo writer Xavier Bosch on Thursday morning.

To add further insult to injury, SPORT now report that Messi’s potential return to Camp Nou in July 2023, when his €30mn ($29mn) two-term deal expires at the Parc des Princes, is ‘improbable’.

The Catalan daily newspaper writes that Messi has been “bothered” by his name constantly being discussed by Barca’s higher-ups, including president Joan Laporta, in the media regarding the potential coup.

“Today it is more likely that he will not return than a possible return [happening]. The circumstances do not exist,” SPORT says.

“There has been no rapprochement or contact between the parties. None. It is clear that Joan Laporta would like it, but there is very, very little chance that Messi will return to Barcelona as a player.”

Coupled with the disappointment of not advancing to the Champions League last 16, Laporta’s image would be further damaged by Messi also not donning the club’s colors once more in 2023/2024.

Laporta promised that Messi would be renewed in 2021 when he was elected that year, which proved to be a fallacy. And should the Argentine renew his terms with PSG, he will also not get the chance to say goodbye to Culers that both parties deserve.