Lionel Messi will leave Barcelona if three members are not sacked

Lionel Messi seems to be firm on his stance this time out with a sinking Barcelona not doing much to salvage itself from going down.

Barcelona did not endure a very positive start to this week as they had to intervene and settle a quarrel between sporting director Eric Abidal and captain Lionel Messi. The former left back made comments against the first-team squad claiming that the players didn’t work hard enough under Ernesto Valverde, to which Lionel Messi responded by taking to Instagram and asking Abidal to point out specifics rather than tarnish the squad’s image.

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The club’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu had reportedly held a meeting with the Frenchman but against wide expectations, Abidal kept his job instead of being sacked. Things went further downhill when on-field worsened for the Catalans, who were knocked out of the Copa del Rey following a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on Thursday evening.

Lionel Messi is absolutely furious with the Barca squad following their latest debacle and doesn’t intend on spending his last few years at the top level salvaging matches on his own. That being said, the Argentina international is of the opinion that the Blaugrana have problems which extend beyond the dressing room and into the higher offices, with ineffective signings in particular that are turning out to be futile.

Diario GOL has claimed that Barca’s all-time top goal scorer has asked them to get rid of three crucial figures- Eric Abidal, Oscar Grau and Quique Setien. The fury against the sporting director is visible given their recent confrontation, while Messi doesn’t believe Oscar Grau is fit enough to be a Barca chief and Quique Setien a coach at such a big club.

For the time being, Bartomeu and Messi have come to terms that firing Abidal wouldn’t do much good to the club given that there are not many good options available in the market. Moreover, the incident between Messi and Abidal is certainly not impacting on-field matters and the Copa del Rey loss was entirely the responsibility of the players. What will happen to Oscar Grau and Quique Setien remains to be seen at the end of this season.

Do you see Lionel Messi bidding farewell to Barca if matters are not sorted out at the earliest?