Leo Messi returns to Camp Nou: 'Hopefully I can be back someday'

Former FC Barcelona player Leo Messi returned to the Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday night, he went back to a "place that I miss with my soul." The footballer shared several photos on social media, writing in Spanish, "Hopefully I can return someday."

Messi said that for him, Camp Nou is a place where he has been "immensely happy," and that fans made him "feel thousands of times the happiest person on earth."

The short text ends with the wish of returning to the stadium that saw him grow, "and not only to bid farewell as a player, as I was never able to do."

The last time Messi stepped foot at Camp Nou was on May 16, 2021, during a LaLiga game against Celta de Vigo.

The player left five months after the club president, Joan Laporta, was reelected. Since then, the club has had to play for two years at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium Lluís Companys, during Camp Nou's construction.

When he left, now playing in the US, Messi was emotionally affected. He even broke ties with Laporta, as several media outlets have been reporting since 2021.

The former FC Barcelona player visited the still under-construction stadium while the team was playing against Celta de Vigo in Galicia. Therefore, he did not meet with his former colleagues nor President Joan Laporta.

On Friday, Laporta said that he wishes for the stadium to host a farewell party for Messi once it is completed and can accommodate 105,000 people. The president said so after 21,795 people attended an open training session at the Spotify Camp Nou to test the infrastructure.

At the moment, the club is awaiting the 1B license, which would increase the maximum capacity to 45,000. However, while the team hopes it could happen by the end of November, the city council has not yet made any decision public.