Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has backed Lionel Messi after the latter delivered superb performance on Sunday in 2-1 win game against Athletic Bilbao, hours after full details of the ace footballer lucrative contract was released by Spanish media.
Messi achieved unique feat in the recent encounter where he scored 650th goal for the Catalans with a sumptuous free kick to put Barca ahead in front of Athletic Bilbao while Antoine Griezmann struck the winner after Jordi Alba had scored an own goal to pull the visitor level.
The contract which Koeman is hinting towards is related to the article published in EI Mundo which revealed the total amount Barca has spent on Messi contract and linked that amount with financial crisis that Barcelona is facing this year.
“I don’t understand how anyone could link Messi to Barca’s ruin. He has spent years proving his quality and doing great things for this club, helping it win many important trophies,” Koeman told a news conference.
“I don’t understand how anyone could link Messi to Barca’s ruin. He has spent years proving his quality and doing great things for this club, helping it win many important trophies,” Koeman told a news conference.
“We have known for a very long time that he is the best player in the world, he has done so much for this club and is decisive. We have to respect everything Messi has done.”
However Barcelona reacted after the contract was published on EL Mundo where they will be launching complain against EL Mundo will sue them for leaking confidential information in public platform.
Although Coach Koeman said that the club needs to go down to the bottom of the issue and try to figure out this as soon as possible as It dampens the image of the ace club.
“If this was someone from the club they cannot have a future here,” he added.
Also response came from La Liga President Javier Tebas described the publication as sensationalist journalism adding that Barca is facing financial crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic not because of Messi’s contract.
