Record-Smashing Lionel Messi Must Stay at Barcelona Where He Is Loved

In the same week that Lionel Messi was touted to leave Barcelona, he showed why it cannot happen—for the supporters, for the club and for him.

Messi was made at Barcelona. Turned from a skinny, 13-year-old boy brimming with latent talent into the greatest goalscorer in the history of Spanish football—and depending on who you talk to, the greatest player—Messi and Barcelona are inseparable.

It’s not just because Messi defines this era of Barcelona—he defines the previous one and the next one. He will have influenced the careers of the club’s next generation of footballers, all of whom will aspire to be like Messi.

But nobody can be; he is unique and incomparable. Messi has smashed the all-time La Liga top goalscoring record at just 27 years old, and you would imagine he has over half a decade more at the top of his game.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

At times, Messi has become frustrated. Perhaps that was the reason for his comments earlier in the week about his future not being set in stone at the club.

Messi told Argentine newspaper Ole (h/t ESPNFC.com): "Football is full of unexpected twists and turns...it is true that I said I would like to stay there [at Barcelona] forever, but sometimes not everything turns out the way you want."

In some ways, Messi is right. Not everything turns out the way you want. But for him, most things do. They certainly did against Sevilla, with Barcelona running out 5-1 winners in the end. The match was an event largely forgotten, as Messi struck his brilliant hat-trick and the meltdown began.

Of course, Barcelona’s triumph is important, as they close the gap behind Real Madrid to just two points.

Keeping the team competing for the title is key in whether Messi will stay at the club.

Perhaps the poor results in recent weeks and the occasional lack of direction from Luis Enrique caused Messi to lose his usual balance and speak out of line, but that was all forgotten on Saturday night in Catalonia.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

After Messi scored his second goal, the one which took him to 252 and one above Telmo Zarra’s previously unassailed total of 251, his team-mates gave him the bumps.

They repeated this at the end of the game, before standing by his side as they and the assembled crowd of 78,000 watched a video of some of Messi’s greatest goals on the big screen.

Messi had just wanted to take the match ball and walk away from the field, content with a job well done. But he was not allowed to get away that easily, and before he could finally find some privacy, he walked through a guard of honour, formed by his proud team-mates.

He knows he is truly loved here. If Messi goes to another team, he will be adored and adulated. But it would never be the same as this. The crowd chanted his name; Messi acknowledged his supporters.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

The Argentine had put on a show for them here. The first goal was a tracer bullet of a free-kick, which left Sevilla goalkeeper Beto grasping at nothing as it flew in to the top corner.

The second was beautiful, too, in its own way. Messi slid in at full stretch to score the second and make history.

Finally, to complete his hat-trick—certainly not resting on his laurels after breaking Zarra’s record—Messi scored a strike that could have come straight out of a highlight reel from his career. A quicksilver dribble, a lighting one-two and a laser-guided finish.

Can you imagine Messi scoring these goals in another team’s shirt? Some things were never meant to be, and this man playing anywhere but Barcelona is one of them.