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FC Barcelona: Messi, Bartomeu, Abidal, Suarez ... before the clasico, what a mess!

2020-03-01T07:30:15.465Z


A dismissed coach, a president threatened with early eviction and injured players: Barça is going through a funny season, which is playing out


The week in the Champions League confirmed the small state of form of FC Barcelona, ​​returned from Naples with a draw obtained (1-1) thanks to Italian inefficiency more than to Catalan talent. And here comes the clasico (9 p.m. BeIN Sport 1) this Sunday against Real Madrid on the lawn of the Santiago-Bernabeu. A shock on paper between a leader and his runner-up (two points ahead for Barcelona), but especially between two sick clubs for different reasons.

On the Catalan side, a new victory on Madrid soil - it would be the fifth in a row in the league - would give a comfortable lead in view of the title. From there to erase the turmoil caused by current business? Not sure. In chronological order, Barça had to manage the aborted transfer of Neymar, the difficult integration of Griezmann, the dismissal of a trainer (Ernesto Valverde replaced by Quique Setien), the injury of Luis Suarez, a public quarrel between Éric Abidal and Lionel Messi before, finally, being agitated by a dark controversy around President Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Since mid-February, the boss blaugrana is, indeed, accused of having hired a communication organization capable of disseminating ideas on social networks. All this to go so far as to discredit the opinions of its own players (Piqué, Messi) or former members of the Barça house (Xavi, ex-president Joan Laporta). If Bartomeu denied this information, an internal investigation has been launched and could lead to early elections for the presidency. “The environment is very heavy, confirms Omar Da Fonseca, follower of Spanish football for BeIN Sport. It will never be calm around Barça, which is a very politicized club. Bartomeu is necessarily weakened, especially if he does not win anything this season ”.

Messi on all fronts

During a long interview with Mundo Deportivo, the Catalan media, Messi spoke directly about this affair. "The truth is that I find it strange that such a thing happens," said the Argentinian, yet rare in the newspapers. We have to wait. […] We have had problems since January. What we need is to have peace of mind and think about football. ” During this same interview, the sixfold Ballon d'or replied curtly to Abidal, his sports director, who he accused of having "attacked the locker room" in public.

Atmosphere, therefore. Add to that a workforce affected by serious injuries (Suarez, Dembélé) and the cocktail becomes explosive. Especially since another threat hangs over Camp Nou: the future of Messi. "I do not think a second to leave," he says while he has a clause allowing him to leave freely from Barça in the summer of 2020, one year from the end of his contract . "All the players know the music around this club," concludes Omar Da Fonseca. The environment is not taken into account when approaching such a match. ”

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2020-03-01

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