“I wholeheartedly want to thank Pep for everything he has given me in my professional career and personal life,” the Argentine wrote on his Facebook page.

“Due to the emotion I feel, I preferred not to be present at Pep’s press conference, especially because I knew they (the press) would have been focussing on the faces of the grieving players and this is something that I did not want to show.”u00a0

Lionel Messi