(CNN)Its motto is "More than a club," a theme that bullish Barcelona President Joan Laporta riffed on at a media conference on Friday as he insisted that the La Liga team "is above" even Lionel Messi.

Laporta was addressing the media the day after Barcelona announced that Messi, widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, would not be signing a new deal after 19 years at the Catalan club.