While Lionel Messi continues to elevate Barcelona, there are plans on how the club will maintain its excellence without him.

“He might even play until he’s 45, who knows?” Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said. “We know he’ll play three, four, five years more, we don’t know how many – as many as he wants. We’re preparing: players like [Ousmane] Dembélé, [Clément] Lenglet, Arthur are there to build a team for when Messi stops playing, but I still see it as a long way off. I don’t think that day is near. And we tell the players who play and train with him: ‘Make the most of every minute.’

“We are talking to the family but it’s very early to say. He’s a footballer. So we talk football. But he will stay here with us. He’s a club man. I talk always about Pelé, who was always associated with Santos, the only place he played. Leo belongs to world football, but he has always lived at Barça. He will be a one-club man. Leo will never leave. He’ll stop playing, but he’ll always be with us.”

For now, Barcelona is appreciating the brilliance of Messi.

“We live with a genius, but we live with genius as if it was normal,” said Bartomeu.