Barcelona manager Quique Setien has displayed resentment against Lionel Messi by raising issues against the forward with the board of directors.
Lionel Messi was once again in the media, this time after very long, following his interview wherein he stated that Barcelona will not be able to win the UEFA Champions League this year either. The Argentina international was critical of the club in the candid exchange with a Spanish source and that was not seen in good eyes by Quique Setien.
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As it is, Barca have not been in the best of situations internally at the club since the start of this year. First, it was Ernesto Valverde’s firing that grabbed media attention, next, it was the public spat between Eric Abidal and Lionel Messi and finally, a statement by the captain in which he took a swipe at the board while announcing a reduction in wages.
From all these major incidents, what has been common is that Messi has taken to social media in an attempt to sort out matters, rather than taking things to his seniors at the club. In fact, the 32 year old has made it look as if he is bigger than the club and rightly so, the manager fears a dressing room feud if things carry on this way.
Don Balon has reported that in a bid to curb the player’s dominance and say in club matters, Setien has decided to speak to Josep Maria Bartomeu. Interestingly, the president has agreed to have a conversation with the club’s all-time top goal-scorer if there is persistent involvement going forward from a player who is treating himself to be above the hierarchy.
Quique Setien and Lionel Messi share an otherwise great relationship, but the former Real Betis manager standing up for the team’s broader interests is exactly what the Catalans need even if that means schooling their greatest ever player over his recent behaviour. Moreover, the respect just seems one-way between the duo.
To be honest, Messi had no business to come out and say that the Champions League was beyond the Blaugrana, when the club’s standard is to triumph continentally or at least compete till the very end year in and year out. Besides that, it is thought that the forward was never in favour of appointing a boss who has never overseen the UCL before.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen has already been in the news amid talk that him and Messi have fallen out over the lack of voice given to other Barcelona players, and earlier it was thought that the French trio of Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti also had declared their revolt against the club’s captain and his involvement in everything.
Setien’s step is certainly a beneficial one for the club but it remains to be seen whether Bartomeu, who is already struggling to impress many, would have an upfront word with Messi. However, such a thing is needed because no player deserves to be treated bigger than his club, and more so when it’s one who will retire in two or three years but go away leaving behind a long-term damage on things.