Lionel Messi has taken aim at Barcelona and accused them of “kicking out” Luis Suarez after the striker left the club to Atletico Madrid this week.
Suarez said goodbye to the Catalan club in an emotional press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The former Liverpool forward scored an incredible 198 goals in just 283 games and is now third on Barca’s all-time leading goalscorer list.
The 33-year-old won four La Liga titles, four Copa Del Rey titles and the Champions League, but has been deemed surplus to requirements by new head coach Ronald Koeman.
And in a message to Suarez, Messi wrote: “How hard it’ll be not to share each day with you...You deserved to depart like what you are: one of the most important players in the club’s history. Not for them to kick you out like they have done. But the truth is nothing surprises me anymore.”
Suarez signed for Liverpool from Ajax in 2011 for £22.7m and scored 82 times in 133 in all competitions for the club.
Speaking on his Barca departure, he said: “It was such a surprise. I didn’t really have anything prepared. I want to say the club has always had so much confidence in me since 2014 when they signed me.
“The conditions that I came here, they surrounded me with the mistake I made with the confidence they always had in me.
“It wasn’t always easy to accept this. The coaches and my teammates, which they accepted me when I came it was amazing.
“All the people know the sacrifice I made to come to Barcelona and to play for the best team in the world.
“I’m aware that we are at the end of an era but I should be very proud of everything we’ve done.
“Thank you to all the fans for supporting me, cheering me on from day one. The support of everyone I’ve had, from everyone inside the Camp Nou, the staff, a massive effort from everyone.”
