Antonio Conte said he believed Lionel Messi will remain at Barcelona for the rest of his playing days after watching the Argentine maestro destroy Chelsea's Champions League hopes.
Messi, 30, scored twice and set up a goal for Ousmane Dembele as Barca beat Chelsea 3-0 at the Camp Nou yesterday for a 4-1 aggregate triumph.
The double took Messi to 100 Champions League goals while his opener, coming after 129 seconds, was the fastest goal of his illustrious career.
Messi has frequently been linked with a big-money move to the Premier League but Conte is convinced the striker will retire at Barcelona.
"I think Leo wants to stay until the end of his career with Barcelona," Conte said.
"We're talking about an impossible situation. I repeat: we must have great respect for this player. We are talking about a fantastic player.
"I think he wants to stay in Barcelona for the end of his career. I think it's the right way for him. He's writing with his team-mates a great story with Barcelona."
"What will stick in the throat is the penalty not given where it is quite obvious that Marcos is pushed in the back or he would have at least tried to shoot. It's very hard, I think it would have changed the game."
"There's no guarantee that he's going to score, but he is a fantastic player. We enjoy him. We're lucky enough to be seeing something that will go down in history."
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