YOUHOU, Mbappé stays with us, Ligue 1 still has a bright future ahead of it and in the teeth of Real Madrid. We thought we were going to have to have a terrible farewell with our favorite player, but phew we escaped the worst. This is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the worst goodbyes of players to clubs and I advise you to take out your handkerchiefs.
1. Messi and his tears when he announces his departure from Barça
As we know, Messi was particularly loyal to Barça, and after more than 20 seasons spent in his favorite club, he was forced to leave, and joined PSG. When he had to announce his departure at a press conference, he could not hold back his tears, and explained “I had never imagined my departure, and the truth is that I did not think about it”. His wife even had to hand him a handkerchief as the tears flowed and prevented him from expressing himself. So heartbreaking…
2. The departure of Xavi, another Barça legend
When Xavi’s departure was made official, it was obviously a real heartbreak for all Barça fans, for whom he was a real legend. His farewell ceremony at Camp Nou was even sadder than Mufasa’s death in The Lion King (yes I dared), he still left behind 24 years of club history…
3. Alessandro Del Piero, forever captain of Juve
The old lady (Juve what) will have had a hard time separating from Alessandro Del Piero who marked the series A and the spirit of all Italian football fans. In June 2012, Alessandro Del Piero announced his departure for Australia, and it was after 19 years together that he left his beloved club to end his career. I let you watch the video of his farewell, because I do not have the words to describe it (without exaggeration).
4. Pavel Nedved, another big loss for Juve
The 2003 Golden Ball had to bid farewell to Juve in 2009, after 8 years in Italy. The Czech legend announces his departure to end his career in his home country. And it was during his last match with Juve against Lazio that Nedved left the pitch to a standing ovation from the fans. Class.
5. Chelsea legend John Terry
Terry arrived at Chelsea in 1995, you weren’t even born then (I don’t really know, but hey). 22 years spent at the same club, so when in 2017 he announced his departure, he left the hearts of all Chelsea fans empty and tasteless, in the stadium of Stamford Bridge in full emotion.
6. Sergio Aguerro, another heartbreaking farewell for Barça
And there we really start on a very very sad story, I prefer to warn for the sensitive souls. Indeed, Aguerro had to leave Barça, and stop his professional career, due to cardiac arrhythmia. So he said goodbye to the world of professional football in 2021… in tears to the applause of journalists, and it’s heartbreaking.
7. Javier Zanetti, Inter’s iconic defender
The former Inter defender left a big void in Serie A after his departure. Indeed the Italian club will have been the only European club in which he will have evolved, for 19 long years.
So when the Argentinian announced his departure, the supporters were in tears and kept applauding and singing in a crazy San Siro stadium. Not all players can say the same when they leave.
8. The departure of Pablo Sarabia from Sevilla
In 2019 when Sarabia announces his departure to evolve at PSG, he recognizes at the same time that the fact of leaving Seville and especially Spain gives him a real twinge in the heart. He had indeed not left Spain since his debut in professional football, and PSG was a first for him (even if between Spain and France, there is not a gap either, we are OK). And it is therefore in tears that Sarabia declares when she leaves “I am a Sevillian forever”, it is beautiful.
9. Luis Suarez, in tears when he leaves Barça
Even Suarez left Barça, and to join Atletico Madrid as well, so yes it’s sad.
He was in tears when he announced his departure, because even under this brute body, there is finally a tender and sensitive heart. After bidding farewell to his teammates in the training center, he got into his car and cried. Poor Suarez, we are almost sad for you.
10. Francesco Totti, the legend of AS Roma
Totti did even better than Terry, he stayed 24 years in the same club, so his departure and his end of career was such a heartbreak that words fail me (while concretely I don’t care a bit about AS Roma). The King of Rome had bowed out this year 2017, in front of a stadium in tears.
11. The departure and end of Andrea Barzagli’s career
Barzagli has played almost his entire career in Italy, he was an emblematic figure in Serie A. When he announced his departure, all of Italy lost a legend. He said goodbye to Juventus, where he spent the last years of his career (8 years). He formalized his retirement after Juve’s loss to SPAL in April 2019, and a month later, in Juve’s last home game, he was replaced by Mandžuki, and was applauded by the entire stadium.
12. Arsene Wenger’s departure from Arsenal
Because it also happens that the departure of emblematic coaches arouses a lot of emotion, Arsène Wenger was able to find the right words during his farewell speech to reach all the supporters of the stadium. Although he had received criticism for his work with Arsenal, the entire footballing world paid tribute to him after his 22 years with the English club.
13. The end of the Bayern era for Ribéry
After 12 years spent at Bayern, and especially titles like the Champions League or 9 German Champions titles, obviously Ribéry was greatly missed as he was considered an emblem of the club. It was at 36 that he decided to leave Bayern to quietly end his career in Italy. We let you judge for yourself but the ovation that the supporters gave him was really very touching, and we could see a Ribéry in tears, as we had never seen him before.
14. Gianluigi Buffon’s departure from Juve
Another departure of a legendary player from Juve who moved a lot. The legendary goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon, had stayed 17 years at Juve before leaving for PSG (and finally returning to Juve a year later). With Juve, he participated in three Champions League finals, and won ten Italian championships. In short, another legendary player who had trouble saying goodbye to his family cocoon.
15. And finally, Iniesta’s departure from Barcelona
The end of Iniesta was also the end of a legend, the end of an era. Four Champions Leagues and nine Spanish championships, how could we forget? Iniesta spent his entire career at the Catalan club, before ending up at a Japanese club for his final years as a pro. He played his last match in May 2018 against Real Sociedad on the last day of the Spanish championship, a match that Barça won 1-0.
Following the latter, the stadium gave him an ovation which made us all cry like shit… sniff