Abidal bids touching farewell to Barcelona

Eric Abidal has sent an emotional message to Barcelona after being relieved of his duties as a sporting director on Tuesday.

Abidal stepped down a day after Barcelona fired Quique Setien to appoint Roland Koeman as a new chief in the dugout.

After enjoying a trophy-laden six-year stint at Barcelona as a player, Abidal re-joined the club in 2018 to become a sporting director.

Unfortunately for the Frenchman, his two-year tenure at Camp Nou coincided with a couple of underwhelming seasons.

Two years of suffering have culminated in an embarrassing 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final.

Abidal, who was previously involved in a disturbing bust-up with Barca icon Lionel Messi, faced harsh criticism for taking Setien’s side following the Estadio da Luz nightmare.

The 40-year-old finally broke his silence yesterday, bidding a touching farewell to Barcelona via an emotional Instagram post.

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Benvolguts/des Barcelonistes, Vull aprofitar aquestes línies per acomiadar-me de tots vosaltres. Ho faig des de l’agraïment mes profund per haver pogut compartir dues etapes importants de la meva vida. Una com a jugador i un altre com a responsable de la Secretaria Tècnica del FC Barcelona. Aquest segon comiat contempla 2 anys en els que he intentat treballar per fer un Barça millor. Dues temporades intenses que he Donat de finalitzades per decisió pròpia. Malgrat que la Junta Directiva hem va ratificar dilluns en el meu càrrec, dimarts passat vaig presentar la meva dimissió. En els darrers dos anys he intentat ralitzar canvis que creia molt importants per al futur del primer equip. Malgrat el meu convenciment i la meva insistència no ho he aconseguit. Es per això que crec que ha arribat el moment de possar punt i final a la meva vinculació amb el club. Vull deixar constància de que he renunciat a l’any de contracte que encara tenia amb el FCBarcelona. Avui la situació del club es complicada, però no tingueu cap dubte de que desitjo de tot cor que es pugui superar i que els èxits tornin aviat tal i com es mereix aquest gran club. Gràcies eternes a tots. Visca el Barça i Visca Catalunya. Eric Abidal

A post shared by E.Abidal Official (@abi22ericabidal) on Aug 20, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

“Over the last two years, I tried to make changes that I thought were very important for the first team,” Abidal wrote.

“But, despite my conviction and persistence, I failed. This second goodbye brings to a close two years, where I tried to work to make Barcelona better.

“Two intense seasons which I decided to bring to an end on my own accord.

“Whilst the board gave me a vote of confidence on Monday, I provided my resignation on Tuesday, waiving the rights to the final year of my contract with Barcelona.

“The moment has come to draw a line under the link between me and the club.

“Right now, the club’s situation is complicated, but be in no doubt that I hope with all my heart that it will recover and that success soon returns just as this great club deserves.”