Lionel Andreas Messi\u2019s successful, albeit emotional, move to Paris Saint-Germain is finally complete.<\/p>\n
A total of 778 mesmerizing matches and 672 sizzling goals later spread over 17 glorious seasons, only a handful of the Blaugrana faithfuls were present to catch a final rear view of their idol\u2019s hunched shoulders and slumped back as he was forced to walk away with a heavy heart from Camp Nou one last time on Sunday after having tearfully poured out his emotions at the decidedly inglorious, official press conference in Barcelona.<\/p>\n
The farewell was in no way what anyone even totally bereft of creative imagination could have imagined \u2013 at least a grand, sumptuous affair in a jam-packed Barcelona stadium under those once-grand words that would immediately trigger shivers to course down a spine when the moment of epiphany dawns upon one \u2013 Mes Que Une Club<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n No, au contraire<\/em>, just a small confluence of befuddled journalists and other media reps in a conference room with the Camp Nou boardroom posse with representatives and family members from the Messi entourage, including the great man himself, of course.<\/p>\n Needless to say, the tears flowed as the dumbfounded Barcelona talisman and savior of Blaugrana football for seventeen incredible seasons stood at the lectern, speechless at first for a long while as the tears from a choked heart welled up and coursed down his cheeks. Suddenly, I could hear the ominous words reverberating from Joseph Conrad\u2019s Heart of Darkness<\/em> \u2013 \u2018\u2026 the horror \u2026 the horror \u2026\u2019<\/em><\/strong> as the tears welled up in my own eyes.<\/p>\n Needless to say, with the torturous journey of why\u2019s, what-if\u2019s, how\u2019s and wh<\/em>o\u2019s at the press conference having been painfully navigated \u2013 the entire ordeal all at Messi\u2019s emotional and psychological expense, needless to say – the global feedback was almost instantaneous in this age of social media when the tsunami torrents struck with full force when the entire traumatic episode experienced a sudden neck-snapping, 360-degree turnaround with the whole scenario magically morphing into a new, grand and cinematographic landscape with a mesmerizing Parisian backdrop featuring the megalithic Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and, most unbelievably, the Parc des Princes.<\/p>\n