Dani Alves urges Lionel Messi to go back to Barcelona

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Dani Alves has urged Lionel Messi to go back to Barcelona and retire at his boyhood club.

Messi brought a more than 20-year association with the Catalan club to a close when he joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer last summer.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner had hoped to stay at Barcelona, but financial difficulties meant they were unable to sign Messi to even reduced terms.

Alves played alongside the Argentine at the Camp Nou for eight years earlier in his career, and sealed his own return to the club in November.

The Brazilian full-back says it is “strange” to no longer be lining up in a Barcelona shirt without Messi alongside him, and encouraged the 34-year-old to follow his lead and come back.

“[Lionel] Messi is the best player in the history of football. It’s strange to be here and not see him, to not have him in the squad,” Alves said to Tot Costa de Catalunya Radio, according to SPORT.

“Sometimes things don’t happen as we dream. I already told him that he is not going to be in any better place than here.

“He told me the same when I left. It would be very good if Messi finishes his career here.”

Messi’s contract with PSG runs until the summer of 2023.

He has endured a disrupted first season in the French capital, struggling for consistency having dealt with injuries and, latterly, Covid.

Despite scoring just once in eleven Ligue 1 appearances for his new club since moving to Paris in August, Messi secured a record-extending seventh Ballon d’Or.