Lewandowski hopes to play with Messi next season

Lionel Messi belongs at Barcelona, striker Robert Lewandowski said as he held out hope on Tuesday that Argentina's World Cup winning captain would return to the LaLiga club.

Lewandowski, who attended a presentation of the 18th edition of the Sport Solidarity Stories book, a fundraising event for the Lovaas Foundation, said he wanted to link up in attack with Messi, currently at Paris St Germain, next season.

"Messi belongs at Barca and if he comes back it will be incredible. We know his place is here at Barcelona. I don't know what will happen, but I hope that next season we can play together," he said.

The Poland international also spoke about Barca's recent struggles as they were knocked out of the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey with a 4-1 aggregate defeat by fierce rivals Real Madrid.

They do, however, lead the LaLiga standings by 13 points ahead of Real with 10 games remaining.

"We're focused on LaLiga and there are points left to win, but we're not thinking about the gap to Madrid. We have to score goals and make the fans happy. My team mates and I are working hard to win the title," the 34-year-old added.

Barcelona travel to Getafe on Sunday.