Messi wants to continue with Barcelona till the end of his career: Bartomeu

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said that the Argentine striker Lionel Messi wants to continue with the club till the end of his career.

His remark comes as there have been several media reports, saying Messi has lost interest in renewing his contract with Barcelona.

"I am not going to give details but Messi has said many times that he will end his football life in Barcelona," Goal.com quoted Bartomeu as saying.

"We are focused on the competition and there are negotiations with many players. Messi wants to continue and wants to end his career here. He has many years left and we are going to enjoy him for much longer," he added.

Messi on Sunday (local time) had registered his best-ever assist tally in the history of La Liga. The striker achieved the feat in Barcelona's match against Villarreal.

In the match, Messi set up Antoine Griezmann for Barcelona's third goal and this enabled the Argentine to register his 19th La Liga assist for the season, Goal.com had reported.

The 33-year-old Messi had already set up Luis Suarez in the first half against Villarreal and with this, he became the first player to reach 18 assists for the season.

In the match between Barcelona and Villarreal, the former emerged triumphant after registering a 4-1 victory.

For Barcelona, Pau Torres, Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Ansu fati registered goals.

While Gerard Moreno registered the lone goal for Villarreal in the match.

Messi is currently also the top-scorer in the La Liga for the 2019-20 season, and he is five goals ahead of Real Madrid's Karim Benzema.

Barcelona is currently at the second spot in the La Liga standings with 73 points from 34 matches.

The side is four points behind table-toppers Real Madrid.

Barcelona will next take on Espanyol in La Liga on Wednesday, July 8.