Barcelona sacked Ernesto Valverde and appointed Quique Setién as his successor in January.
The Catalan club’s technical secretary, Eric Abidal, has spoken to Sport this week, and told them: “Many players were not satisfied or didn’t work hard [under Valverde] and there was also an internal communication issue.”
Abidal’s comments didn’t go down well with Lionel Messi and he publicly hit out at the Barcelona board by urging Abidal to name those players who were ‘not satisfied or didn’t work hard’ under Valverde.
‘Tsunami’ is splashed on the front page of today’s edition of Sport.
Within the report, it’s stated Abidal’s comments have deeply bothered the Argentine, which is why he responded ‘crudely’.
Messi’s response ‘fell like at bomb’ at Barcelona and it was not only a dig at the forward’s former teammate, but also at the club’s board and their sporting policies.
The newspaper explained it’s very difficult for the La Liga winners to hide that their star player is upset and they’ve labelled yesterday’s response as a ‘missile’ attack.
Abidal’s position at Barca is compromised and Messi himself could doubt his future with the Spanish champions. Even though his contract expires in 2021, the Ballon d’Or winner can leave as a free agent in the summer.
Sport states ‘fracture in the club is total’ and it remains to be seen how Barcelona would respond to Messi’s latest attack.
