Messi confirms staying at Barcelona but rages at president

MADRID - Lionel Messi said on Friday he will stay at Barcelona, insisting he could never go to court against"the club of his life" but he launched a stinging attack on president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

"I thought and we were sure that I was free," Messi said."The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not and now they hold on to the fact that I did not say it before June 10 when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for the league in the middle of this shitty virus and this disease that altered all the dates."

His lawyers sent Barca a burofax on August 25 stating his intention to depart but Messi says he made his feelings clear to Bartomeu long before. "It wasn't because of the Champions League result against Bayern, I had been thinking about it for a long time. I told the president and the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not end up keeping his word."

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