Lionel Messi hints at Barcelona return? 'I hope one day' - ESPN

Lionel Messi said he hopes to return to Spotify Camp Nou for the goodbye he «never got» as a player at Barcelona after visiting the revamped stadium for the first time on Sunday.

Messi, back in Spain ahead of joining up with Argentina, posted photographs on social media inside Camp Nou just over 24 hours after firing Inter Miami into the next round of the MLS playoffs.

«Last night, I returned to a place that I miss with all my heart,» he wrote alongside the images on Monday.

«It's a place where I was immensely happy, where you made me feel like the happiest person in the world a thousand times over.

»I hope that one day I can return, and not just to say goodbye as a player, as I never got to do..."

Messi, 38, spent most of his career at Barça before making a hasty exit to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 due to the Catalan club's financial problems.

As a result — and in part also due to the Covid restrictions in place at the time — Barça's record appearance holder and goal scorer was unable to properly say goodbye.

Club president Joan Laporta has spoken since about a desire to bring Messi back for a tribute game, suggesting it would be the perfect way to inaugurate the new Camp Nou, which has been closed for redevelopment since 2023.

«It would be a great way to open the stadium [when it's completely finished], with 105,000 packed in and paying tribute to Leo,» Laporta reiterated to reporters after an open training session in front of 23,000 fans at Camp Nou last week.

«Always, of course, depending on what [the Messi camp] wants. There are also presidential elections before then, but in the case I am still president, I would love that.»

Messi, whose relationship with Laporta cooled following his departure, has never previously