Laporta's pitch to Messi came two days after the Argentine equalled Xavi Hernandez as the club's highest appearance maker on 767 games, marking the occasion by scoring twice in a 4-1 rout of Huesca.
"You know I love you, you know Barca loves you and if this stadium were full when you played, you wouldn't want to leave. Whatever you decide is fine in the end, but we'll try." He then faced an unexpected scramble to secure a guarantee of 125 million euros within 10 days of winning the election to secure his position and avoid a second election, eventually getting over the line thanks to the backing of Catalan businessman Jose Elias, CEO of renewable energy firm Audax.
Laporta inherits a deep financial crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and said getting the accounts in order would be his priority, also predicting the club would soon return to earning the same amount of revenue as before the pandemic hit last year.
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