Barcelona president Bartomeu calls emergency meeting with ALL staff with club in disarray amid Messi and Abidal row
BARCELONA president Josep Maria Bartomeu was reportedly forced to call an emergency meeting with his staff with the Catalan club in disarray.
The LaLiga giants were forced to deny sensational claims they paid a PR firm to attack stars such as Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique online.
It was suggested that Barca worked alongside I3 Ventures to protect Bartomeu’s reputation by altering public opinion on Twitter and Facebook.
These included attacks on Messi’s reluctance to sign a new contract, while Pique was targeted following his project to revamp the Davis Cup.
According to Spanish outlet AS, Bartomeu decided to summon the Delegate Commission on Wednesday to discuss the club’s current situation.
The 57-year-old was joined by vice-presidents Jordi Cardoner, Jordi Moix, and Enrique Tombas, alongside secretary Maria Teixidor and the CEO, Oscar Grau.
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Bartomeu had reportedly planned to give Barcelona’s board explanations for the club’s recent off-field problems on Friday, but Pique’s public outburst forced him to bring forward the meeting.
The Spanish defender called a journalist a “puppet” in response to a Twitter statement by the writer regarding the PR firm allegations.
Marcal Lorente had wrote: “I have known the environment and idiosyncrasies of Barcelona and the club’s members for many years and fortunately they can’t be as easily manipulated, they are more intelligent and know perfectly how to identify those who want to use the media, political and economic interests to make it at Barca.”
To which, an unimpressed Pique fired back a one-word response: “Puppet.”
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Tensions at Barcelona have continued to escalate in recent weeks following captain Messi’s public fall-out with club sporting director Eric Abidal.
The Frenchman had accused the Nou Camp players of not putting in enough effort under Ernesto Valverde prior to his sacking.
That prompted former team-mate Messi to respond on Instagram as he demanded Abidal “name names”.