Messi hints at a return to Camp Nou as he shares pictures of his visit to the renovated stadium of Barcelona.

Barcelona moved temporarily to the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc when renovation works began at Spotify Camp Nou in the Summer of 2023. While it was set to be ready so use in the 2024/25 season, it saw some delays, pushing the reopening to August 2025.

Barcelona are set to return during the 2025/26 La Liga season, though only the lower tiers will be complete. Work on the upper tiers will continue throughout the season.

Lionel Messi, one of the club's favourite, greatest-ever players and longest-serving modern icon, paid an unannounced visit to the stadium on Sunday, November 9, ahead of his camping in Spain with Argentina and ahead of Camp Nou’s partial reopening this November in their clash against Athletic Club in La Liga.

During his visit, he expressed his desire to return not only to bid farewell to fans and the club officially, but for something more than just a goodbye.

In an Instagram post, he wrote alongside pictures he took at the stadium, "Last night, I returned to a place that I miss with all my heart," he wrote alongside the images on Monday. It's a place where I was immensely happy, where you made me feel like the happiest person in the world a thousand times over. I hope that one day I can return, and not just to say goodbye as a player, as I never got to do…"

Messi spent about twenty-one years at Camp Nou. He joined Barcelona’s famous academy at the age of 13, from Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, between 2000–2004. He made his debut appearance at age 17 when the club played against Spain on October 16, 2004.

Lionel Messi played 778 official matches for Barcelona, scoring a club-record 672 goals, providing 269 assists, and winning 35 major trophies, including 10 La Liga titles, 7 Copa del Rey titles, 4 UEFA Champions League titles, 3 FIFA Club World Cups, 3 UEFA Super Cups, and 8 Spanish Super Cups.

He played his last match in August 2021 vs Celta Vigo, before leaving due to financial constraints at the club, and making a ‘hasty’ exit to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.

His departure wasn’t formally done due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in place at the time.

Club president Joan Laporta has spoken about a desire to bring Messi back for a tribute game, suggesting it would be the perfect way to inaugurate the new Camp Nou, which has been closed for redevelopment since 2023.

"It would be a great way to open the stadium [when it's finished], with 105,000 packed in and paying tribute to Leo," Laporta reiterated to reporters after an open training session in front of 23,000 fans at Camp Nou last week.

"Always, of course, depending on what [the Messi camp] wants. There are also presidential elections before then, but in the case I am still president, I would love that."

Messi, whose relationship with Laporta cooled following his departure, has never previously commented on the possibility of returning to participate in any such game. Work is still ongoing on Camp Nou.

Barça currently have a license to host games with 25,991 fans present, but hopes to secure a permit to increase that to 45,401 later this month, at which point they will return to the arena, having spent over two years playing at the Olympic Stadium in the city.

However, the third tier still needs to be finished and the roof added. When the refurbishment is completed, which is not anticipated to be until 2027, the capacity will rise to 105,000.

Messi returned to Europe over the weekend after scoring twice on Saturday as third-seeded Inter Miami ousted sixth-seeded Nashville SC in the decisive Game 3 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Meanwhile, Messi, speaking at the America Business Forum, held at the Kaseya Centre in Miami, highlighted that winning the title of football’s greatest tournament, the FIFA World Cup, is the highest achievement any player can attain in football.

According to him, he feels fulfilled after leading Argentina to victory in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the memory continues to excite him every time it comes to mind.

The Barcelona icon noted that clinching the Mundial was the perfect way to cap off his footballing career, and nothing more could be asked of him.

"Winning the World Cup is the ultimate achievement. After the World Cup, there’s nothing more you can ask for. It’s hard to explain the feelings from that moment. It’s difficult to find words to describe what that title meant on a personal level, for my family, my teammates, and for the country.

"It was clear how the whole nation celebrated it, the need and desire we all had for that to happen again after such a long time”.

He continued that it was an exceptional experience in his life, having won trophies in his career, but winning the World Cup “completed my entire career with that trophy.”

"...It was special. I had already been lucky enough to achieve everything else before, at club level, individually. That was the one thing missing, the one that completed my entire career with that trophy.”

This comes after his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo rejected the notion that he needs to lead Portugal to a World Cup title to be considered among the greatest players in history.