Sergio Aguero has revealed he thought Barcelona’s social media account had been hacked when it was announced Lionel Messi was leaving the club.
The former Man City striker had a short spell with the Catalan giants after joining the club on a free transfer, following the expiry of his contract with Pep Guardiola’s side.
Aguero had the desire to play alongside his fellow countryman, with pair becoming best friends, 17 years after they first met at a training camp with the Argentinian national team.
However, a month after putting pen-to-paper on a deal at the Nou Camp, he was dealt with the shock news that Messi’s Barca career was ending.
Messi would depart as a free agent, and eventually join French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
“How did I find out about Messi’s departure from Barca? I was with Ibai Llanos [famous Spanish YouTuber].
“We were drinking mate and suddenly… he looks at the phone and says to me, ‘No, is this true?’, and shows me the phone with the Barca official announcement.
“When Barcelona announced Messi’s departure I thought someone had hacked Barca’s social networks. I thought it was a joke.”
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Ibai told Aguero to call Messi to confirm that it was true, but the ex-City striker was reluctant to because he thought it might be.
After a few hours had passed, Aguero did eventually contact Messi to ask him.
“I decided to wait, but the hours went by and I saw that the statement was still there,” Aguero added.
“Suddenly, I thought, ‘Hey, you know what? no one has hacked it.”
After leaving Barcelona for PSG, Messi scored just 11 goals in all competitions for the French champions last season, but has since been backed by club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to get better.
He said last month that in the 2022/23 season fans ‘will see the best version of Messi ever.’
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner netted his first his first goal of pre-season with his right foot to get off the mark, as PSG ran out 2-1 winners on Wednesday against Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale.
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