Pique lays into Barca over Messi situation

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has torn into the membership over their dealing with of the Lionel Messi contract scenario, which resulted within the ahead making an attempt to depart within the close-season. The criticism comes on the eve of the primary Clasico towards Real Madrid this season and two days after the 33-year-old Pique signed a brand new three-year deal at Barca, with a vote of no confidence towards the board additionally imminent.

Club president Josep Bartomeu was the goal of a scathing interview by Messi, who in the end ended up staying on the Camp Nou, nonetheless the connection between the 2 appears irreparable, one thing that has left Pique astounded.

“I ask myself: How can it be that the best-ever player to have played the game, who we have been lucky enough to enjoy, wakes up one day and sends a Burofax (recorded delivery mail) because he feels like he’s not being listened to?” Pique instructed La Vanguardia newspaper.

“It’s all too confrontational. What’s going on? Messi deserves everything; the new stadium should be named after him first and then the sponsor. We should preserve our figureheads, not underappreciate them. It really gets to me.”

The defender additionally addressed media stories that Bartomeu knew the membership employed a social media company to criticise the gamers earlier this yr.

Bartomeu has denied the allegations.

“I, as a Barca player, see that my club have spent money, money they’re now asking us for (in salary reductions), to criticise us – and I’m not talking about criticising people outside the club, but current players – it’s atrocious.

“I asked (Bartomeu) for an explanation and he said ‘Gerard, I didn’t know about it’, and I believed him. But then you see that the person who was responsible for doing this is still working at the club. That hurts me a lot. And I’m saying that here because I’ve already said it to the president, too.”