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Complaint filed to block Messi move to Paris Saint-Germain

(Update 1: Adds details of complaint, changes headline, minor edits)

Paris/Barcelona, Aug 8 (EFE).- A law firm has prepared a complaint with the European Commission on behalf of FC Barcelona partners to try to prevent Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) from signing Lionel Messi, a lawyer reported Sunday.

Messi had earlier confirmed that he will leave FC Barcelona after 21 years at the club.

Lawyer Juan Branco said in a statement that the filing demands provisional suspension before civil and administrative courts in France.

“PSG’s ratios in terms of ‘financial fair play’ are worse than those of FC Barcelona. In the 2019/20 season, the ratio between salaries and income for the Parisian team was 99%, while that of Barcelona was the 54%,” he said.

“It is inconceivable that the ‘financial fair-play’ serves to aggravate the drifts of football-business and the instrumentalization of football by sovereign powers, and the distortion of competitions.”

The statement said they would ask the authorities “to intervene immediately in order to block this operation.”

At an earlier press conference attended by Messi, his wife, three children and his teammates, many of whom were also in tears, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner bade farewell to the club that he has played for since the age of 13.

‘This is very difficult for me. After so many years, being here my entire life, I’m not ready for this,” Messi said.

Last year, the Barcelona forward had announced that he wanted to leave the club, but later withdrew the request because he knew that a team matching his transfer clause of 700 million euro would be impossible.

A change in the leadership of the club with the reinstatement of Joan Laporta appeared to signal a new era at Barcelona, with the new president making keeping the Argentine superstar his number one priority this summer.

In July, they announced that they had agreed a contract with Messi that would have halved his wages in order to help the debt-saddled club meet LaLiga’s financial regulations, but Barcelona have been unable to offload other first team players to free up enough salary space to accommodate their now former star.

“Last year, I was convinced I knew what I wanted to leave,’ Messi said.

“This year is not the same. This year, my family and I were convinced that we were going to stay here, at home. It’s what we wanted more than anything. We’d always made this our own, we were at home. We thought we’d be staying here in Barcelona. The time we’ve had here has been amazing.

“But today I have to say goodbye to all of this”

Since he made his first-team in 2004 debut at the age of 17, Messi has won every major club honor available.

His unprecedented trophy haul includes 10 LaLiga titles and the Champions League four times. He won the treble twice, in 2009/10 and 2014/15.

He is the club’s all-time leading goal scorer with 670 goals in a record 778 appearances.

“This club, I’ve been so humbled and have so much respect for. I want to thank everyone here for the love I’ve had, to live so many beautiful experiences at the club.”

“I hope that one day I can be part of this club again, in any way, and bring something to help this club be the best in the world,” he said.

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