BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 08: Lionel Messi (R) and Eric Abidal of Barcelona wait for kick-off before ... [+]
FC Barcelona sporting director Eric Abidal will not be relieved of his duties by club president Josep Bartomeu, however peace must be made with Lionel Messi according to reports.
On Wednesday afternoon, SPORT claimed that Bartomeu, who has been in Brussels this morning prior to landing in Barcelona at around 16.00 CET, will not take drastic action at an emergency meeting following Abidal’s fall out with former teammate Messi.
On Tuesday, the Frenchman invoked the wrath of the Ballon d’Or winner by revealing in an interview with the same sports daily how former coach Ernesto Valverde was apparently fired because “many players were not satisfied nor were working much and there was also an internal communication issue”.
“The coach-changing room relationship has always been good, but there are things that I could smell as a former player. I told the club what I thought and a decision had to be made,” added the 2006 World Cup finalist.
In response, Messi, not usually one to be drawn into public spats, took to Instagram to voice his irritation with such statements.
Posting a story to Instagram, which reproduced the SPORT piece in question with the sub-headline that “many players were not satisfied nor were working much” circled, Messi also added a small text which read: “I honestly don't like doing these things but I think everyone has to be responsible for their tasks and take care of their decisions.”
“The players assume [the responsbility of] what happens on the field and we are also the first to recognise when we are not [performing] well. Those responsible for the area of sports management must also assume their responsibilities and above all take charge of the decisions they make,” he expanded further.
“Finally I think that when talking about players, we should give names because otherwise you are tarnishing [the names of ] everyone and feeding things [to the media] that are said and are not true,” the Argentine signed off.
Unsurprisingly, the furore immediately triggered talk of an internal crisis playing out behind-the-scenes at the Camp Nou, with newspapers in Spain containing dramatic front page headlines such as ‘Chaos FC and ‘Tsunami’ as part of their coverage on the debacle.
Providing hourly updates on the latest developments as Bartomeu and Abidal were set to hold an emergency sitdown taking place at the time of publishing, SPORT simultaneously alleged that the pair had already spoken on the telephone earlier this morning.
Earlier, one of their lead journalists, Albert Roge, also relayed news from Esport3 that Bartomeu wanted “to avoid” the firing of Abidal and see peace made between the Tiki-taka sextuple winners.
“SPORT has now learned that the president believes the situation can be stabilised and as things stand [Bartomeu] is not thinking about taking any drastic measures,” wrote Albert Masnou, while elsewhere TV channel GOL declared that Messi “would be willing to accept Abidal’s apology” if forthcoming.
“Bartomeu does not believe sacking Abidal will be the solution to anything and his challenge is now to unite everyone's efforts in the second half of the season,” it was continued, before Masnou concluded that “Barça are preparing for two tough away games and need all [their] focus on the pitch”.
Indeed facing Athletic Bilbao in a Copa del Rey quarterfinal clash on Thursday, before heading to Seville to take on Valverde successor Quique Setien’s old employers Real Betis on Sunday, the Blaugrana will look to put the affair behind them post-haste and make sure their quest for all three trophies currently on offer continues in the best possible health.
