Barcelona may have been back playing football matches at the Camp Nou since the middle of November, but the overall renovation project is still far from complete.
Work on the upper tiers of the iconic stadium continues, as does work on the new roof that will completely transform how it looks from both the outside and inside once complete.
At present, the club have a capped capacity of around 45,000, but work in the background is taking place to try and up this to around the 60,000 mark in the coming months.
The grand ‘reopening' of the stadium is expected to take place at some point in 2027, and at that point, it will have an overall capacity of 105,000, making it the biggest stadium in Europe once again.
Barcelona want Messi to return for the official reopening
Although the overall completion date isn't pencilled in until 2027, Barcelona are already drafting plans for how they will mark the occasion when everything is complete. That is, at least, according to Spanish publication, Mundo Deportivo.
The Catalan newspaper has published a story which states that club chiefs want Barcelona legends to play a central role in the ‘opening ceremony', including none other than Lionel Messi, the club's greatest ever player.
Since Lionel Messi visited the newly-renovated Spotify Camp Nou, Barcelona haven't lost a game there 👀✅
— OneFootball (@OneFootball) December 24, 2025
He really has a magic touch 🪄 pic.twitter.com/PToKPpYpSV
Although no contact has been made with the Inter Miami forward, he is reportedly central to their plans for the event.
However, for Messi to accept the offer, he will have to mend his relationship with Barcelona president Joan Laporta whom he fell out with before leaving the club under a cloud in the summer of 2021.
Messi has been linked with a playing return to Barcelona every year since his departure, but his fractured relationship with Laporta has meant that all of these reports were based on nothing more than hope rather than anything concrete.
FGG says: A nice way to draw an end to the animosity
It goes without saying that Lionel Messi is always going to be more liked than Joan Laporta among the Barcelona fanbase. In fact, there isn't anyone the Barca faithful would want to see more for the Camp Nou reopening than the Argentina captain. It could also be a good way for Messi to get closure on his Barcelona career with retirement looming.