Lionel Messi says he hopes Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde stays at the Catalan club, but admits the squad are still devastated by the recent 4-0 defeat against Liverpool in the Champions League.
The Argentine was chosen to speak in the pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s Copa del Rey final against Valencia in Seville, but most of the questions revolved around Anfield and the future of his coach.
Asked if he wanted Valverde to continue, Messi said: “Yes. I would like him to stay.
"All of this time he has been here, whether you like how we play or not, we have the chance to do another double (having already won La Liga).
“The stain on the season is very big, but in these two years we have only lost two (important) games. It’s true that those defeats left a mark on us, but the rest was good.”
The 31-year-old, who was appearing in his first press conference for Barca since 2015, also absolved his coach of the blame for the 4-0 defeat in Liverpool which saw Barca crash out in the Champions League semi-finals, having won the first game 3-0 at Camp Nou.
“I heard and have been told about the criticism the boss has received,” he said. “But I believe he has done an impressive job: I think he can’t have practically any of the blame for that elimination. We are the ones responsible.
“It was shameful the match that we played, the image we left. For it to happen two years in a row, when we are on the verge of a Champions League final.
"The truth is, we shouldn’t have allowed that to happen. We were playing to be in the final. He will have part of the blame, like all of us, but we are the ones who are most responsible.”
The Liverpool loss was almost a carbon copy of Barca’s Champions League exit away to Roma last season, when the Catalans took a 4-1 lead to the Stadio Olimpico but went down 3-0 on the night and crashed out on away goals.
“It was very similar to Rome,” Messi said. “We started off by quickly conceding a goal and then you think that it can’t happen again. Your head starts working. We reacted well because our first half was not bad at all.
"But in the second half we didn’t compete, that was our biggest mistake. Aside from the errors and the lapses, we were playing for a final and we let it out of our grasp.”
Back in August, Messi had said he hoped to bring back the Champions League trophy to Camp Nou at the end of this season, but says he has no regrets about those words.
“Not at all,” he said. “I didn’t promise we would win it. I promised we would do everything possible. We disappointed and we weren’t able to do that. We have to say sorry. Not because we lost, but because we didn’t compete.”
Asked if he would make changes to the squad, the Argentine said: “That’s not for me to say. We are all disappointed, but it is not my job to talk about that.”
However, he did reveal that the loss against Liverpool will have no bearing on his own future at Camp Nou.
“I have never doubted that, despite the disappointment,” he said. “I have had setbacks with Argentina as well and I keep going back. I want to achieve things. The fact we have been knocked out does not make me think about leaving Barca, not at all.”
Messi also reflected on his first season as club captain, which he hopes will end by lifting the Copa del Rey in Saturday’s game against Valencia at Betis’ Benito Villamarín stadium.
“It has been a spectacular year for me,” he said. “We won La Liga, we are in the final of the Copa. We can lift another trophy. If you take out that one game, it was a great year. Unfortunately that messed up the great year we had.
“But we have a final now, the chance to win another double and finish the year off well.”
