Back in October, Alba announced that he will retire when Inter Miami’s season concludes, in a move that he did not reveal to any of his closest teammates at the time.
The former Spain and Barcelona star has messages from across the football world when he announced his decision, including from former Catalan teammates Luis Suarez, Messi, and Neymar.
Alba’s announcement follows that of Sergio Busquets, who in September said that he will also retire at the end of this Miami season after following his former Barcelona teammates to the US.
Alba's decision was a shock
Now, Messi spoke to SPORT and has revealed that Alba’s decision was utterly unknown to him and that it was a shame.
"The truth is, it was very strange, especially Jordi's situation, because we weren't expecting it. With Busi, we'd been talking about it more, and he'd already been analysing it and talking about it. But with Jordi, it was from one day to the next; we weren't expecting it.
“He caught us one day in the locker room and told us he was going to announce it, that he was retiring, without having spoken about it or discussed it beforehand. It was from one day to the next for us, and it was more surprising."
"It's a shame because beyond what we enjoyed on the pitch, we're also friends. We started this challenge of coming to Miami together from the beginning.
“Well, you also see that there's less, and less time left, and the moment is getting closer to everything, also because we're from the same generation, we did our whole careers together, and being able to share the last few years together was also very nice."
Alba and Messi first started playing together at Barcelona before making their way to Inter Miami in the summer of 2023. Messi is now 38 years old and turns 39 in June. Alba, meanwhile, is 36 and turns 37 in March. Messi’s career is slowly coming to an end and as his former teammates retire around him, it is nearly time to wave goodbye to the legendary forward.