Barcelona president Joan Laporta has described Lionel Messi’s epochal departure as “sad, but it was necessary”.
Messi, 34, joined Paris Saint-Germain last week in a seismic free transfer after serious financial issues ensured the Catalans could not extend his historic 21-year stay.
“The Messi issue is sad, but it was necessary. Because the institution is above everything.
“We would have put ourselves in a lot of risk. It’s a dramatic situation.
“There’s a solution, but it’s dramatic. If this happened later we would have had one or two more years of Messi, but we have the situation now.”
Barca beat Real Sociedad 4-2 this weekend in their first competitive match since Messi’s exit.
