AFP
Lionel Messi put his arm around Ilaix Moriba, the 18-year-old born in the same year Messi made his Barcelona debut and who was now being given his own chance to play for the club’s first team.
Ilaix had just set up the opening goal against Alaves on Saturday when he was congratulated by his 33-year-old captain, whose task it is on Tuesday to lead this youthful Barca to an unfancied victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16.
From nurturing the next generation of Barcelona talents to confronting one of Europe’s richest, most ambitious clubs, the fork in the road for Messi's future is becoming clear.
PSG may not be Messi’s preferred choice this summer, especially if Manchester City decide the Argentinian is the final piece of the jigsaw for a team already ahead of the rest in the Premier League.
But the two clubs remain his most realistic destinations, both united in representing almost everything that staying put at Barcelona would not. Clubs ready, in theory, to win the biggest trophies immediately and able to spend whatever it takes to do it.
Meanwhile Messi’s suspicions in August, when he sent the burofax requesting he depart for free, have arguably been confirmed. Barcelona appear neither ready to win the biggest trophies immediately nor able to spend what is needed to do it.
As it stands, Koeman’s team sit third in La Liga, eight points behind Atletico Madrid. They were beaten by Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup and trail Sevilla 2-0 after the semi-final first leg of the Copa del Rey.
And yet while nobody knows what Messi will decide, perhaps not even Messi -- who told La Sexta in December he “wouldn’t be right to say what I’ going to do because I don't know either” -- there is reason to think Barca’s chances have not only survived the disappointments but been improved in spite of them.
