Messi gets emotional talking about Barça: "We won everything... and in what a way!"

BarcelonaLeo Messi arrived in Oviedo today, where tomorrow he will receive the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Sports in a ceremony presided over by the King and Queen of Spain. The current Inter Miami player participated in an event with children and was welcomed with the traditional Asturian reception featuring bagpipers. Thousands of people waited for him at the doors of the Hotel de la Reconquista, among them a gentleman wearing a Cristiano Ronaldo jersey who did not exactly make friends with the other spectators present.

In an interview with the Efe agency, Messi recalled his years in the Barça shirt: "We were lucky enough to win everything, also in the way we did it, in how we enjoyed playing, winning, achieving important things, but above all in how we enjoyed the day-to-day, the training sessions... We had a great time".

"It is hard to find words to explain everything that Barcelona means. Many good things happened there. I have a very, very special affection for the city, for the club," said Messi, who has just retired from the national team but continues to play with Inter. After winning everything at club level with Barça, Messi highlighted that winning the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar in 2022 was "culminating" his career with something that "was more than a dream".

He explained that the goals he scored in that final were among the most important of his career "for the meaning, for the moment, and for the game that it was," along with others with Barça in some Champions League finals and in some Clásicos.

When asked how he would like to be remembered, the Argentine star said "as a great athlete" who always fought for his goals and his dreams: "Sometimes it worked out for me, sometimes it didn't, but I never stopped trying to win everything in front of me." Finally, he said it will be a privilege to be part of the group of winners of the Princess of Asturias Sports Awards alongside names like Serena Williams, Carolina Marín, Rafael Nadal, Eliud Kipchoge, Lindsey Vonn, the Gasol brothers, and Michael Schumacher.