According to the Daily Mail, Lionel Messi of Paris Saint-Germain paid a surprise visit to Barcelona on Monday night to honor Barca manager Xavi Hernandez’s 42nd birthday alongside old teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
Messi was just left out of Argentina’s World Cup qualifying squads against Chile and Colombia.
His country’s position in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Qatar later this year, is all but guaranteed, so he took advantage of his spare time by flying back to Barcelona, where he established himself as one of the best football players of all time.
Messi and his companions went to a Japanese restaurant in the capital of Barcelona, but word quickly spread that he was back in town.
When he was departing, some Barcelona fans gathered outside to greet him.
After leaving Xavi’s birthday feast, Messi stopped to sign shirts from his old team for the supporters.
During his tenure at Camp Nou, the Argentine captain was a former teammate of Xavi’s.