Lionel Messi was an obvious target for criticism after Barcelona decided to sack a club official for his comments about the superstar. Pere Gratacos told Sport: “Messi would not be as good without Iniesta, Neymar and co. He’s the best, this is true.” For this, he was sacked. Barcelona released a statement later that day confirming the reason.
It said: “FC Barcelona have dismissed Pere Gratacós as head of institutional sporting relations with the Royal Spanish Football Federation for having publicly expressed a personal opinion that does not match that of the club after the draw for the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey held today in Madrid. The decision has been taken by Albert Soler, director of professional sports, who will assume these functions directly from now on.”
However, this decision wasn’t made on the order of Messi himself. Mundo Deportivo reports that Messi was disappointed to hear that the club had taken that route to dealing with Gratacos’ comments. Messi wasn’t offended. He has a good relationship with Gratacos, who gave him his Barcelona B debut.
The club are trying to get Messi to commit to a new contract and didn’t take kindly to what Gratacos said. This is despite Messi saying something similar in November. MD quote him saying this at an Adidas promo event: “I’m in the best team in the world and It does not depend on one.”
Embarrassing from Barcelona to sack a director
after his mild criticism of Messi. Is he untouchable? Might as well be
called Messi FC.
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