Not for the first time in his career, Lionel Messi has found himself of the epicenter of political upheaval at Barcelona.
The club’s greatest player of all time is being used for points scoring in the upcoming presidential elections, which have not yet been officially set but are set to be towards the end of the 2025–26 campaign. The challenging Víctor Font has taken to deriding the current incumbent Joan Laporta for his supposed exploitation of Messi.
Font admitted that Messi’s spuriously speculated return to Catalonia would “give me goosebumps,” in an interview with Mundo Deportivo this week, before quickly adding, “what we shouldn’t do is try to exploit him.” As he pointed out, “I think Laporta has done it, and he’s done it many times, and I think he’s done it wrong.
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“The most recent and obvious instance [of Messi exploitation] was during the [last] elections,” Font claimed, referring to the campaign in 2021 when Laporta heavily hinted at doing everything in his power to keep the Argentine talisman at Barcelona. Within a matter of months, Messi had joined Paris Saint-Germain.
“It’s yet another example of a broken promise, and I believe Messi shouldn’t be used,” Font huffed before swiftly using him. “But Messi needs to know that the first thing I’ll do when I win the elections is pick up the phone and call him. It will be the first phone call I make.”
Víctor Font flashing a thumbs up.
Víctor Font is running against Joan Laporta. / LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images
Messi personally congratulated Laporta for winning the 2021 election—collecting around 54% of the vote while Font banked just shy of 34%—but that relationship has since frosted over, by all accounts. It was telling that Messi waited until the president had left the city and reportedly didn’t inform any club executive when he entered the refurbished Camp Nou under the cover of night earlier this month.
Font has sniffed out this rift and is unashamedly offering an olive branch to the Inter Miami captain.
“We have to embrace Leo Messi,” he declared, “and do everything possible so that, as soon as possible, Leo Messi has the role at Barça that, as he said last week, he wants and that all Barça fans would be thrilled about. Having a statue of him doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
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Font’s campaign is unashamedly steeped in nostalgia. “I mean, Barça and Barça’s history are its legends,” as he said. Messi is just one famous face associated with the club’s storied recent history which Font is trying to co-op, with Xavi Hernández and Pep Guardiola also name-checked.
“Ultimately, the point is to move beyond improvisation and establish a solid foundation so that success doesn’t depend on a stroke of luck here or there, but rather, through a structural approach, win the Champions League again, which we haven’t won in 10 years,” Font said.
“The goal is to harness the full potential of Barça because, I repeat, if Barça truly belongs to everyone, it’s unstoppable, absolutely unstoppable. No other club can even come close.”
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