Lionel Messi remained coy on his future at Barcelona in a long interview broadcast on Sunday in which he called the Catalan giants "my life". Speaking to Spanish TV channel La Sexta, Messi insisted that he was "excited" to play under coach Ronald Koeman this season despite trying to leave the club where he has played his entire senior career last summer.

He said that at the time he felt like he "needed a change", but his attempted exit was blocked amid a spat with former Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Messi`s contract expires at the end of the season and from next month he will be free to negotiate a move away from Catalonia. "Barca is my life, I`m in love with the club. And the city, my children were born here," Messi said in an interview conducted earlier this month.