Lionel Messi says he is “tired of always being the problem” at Barcelona after receiving criticism from the former agent and uncle of Antoine Griezmann.
Messi, who is regarded as one of the greatest players in football history, was accused of implementing a “regime of terror” in Barcelona training by Griezmann’s former agent Eric Olhats.
The Frenchman’s uncle also weighed in on the argument, claiming training sessions at the club are designed to please Messi.
“[Griezmann] was convinced that he wasn’t going to be successful within the first six months, but what I didn’t expect was that it would last an entire year,” Emmanuel Lopes told El Chiringuito.
“Besides, with Messi, I know what’s going on inside [the club] – it’s not easy.
“Basically, [Messi] doesn’t work hard enough at Barca and the training sessions are structured in order to please certain people, which is fine if you don’t want to work [as hard].”
“Antoine needs to work, even though others don’t need as much effort to play well. He’s the other way around – he needs to put in a lot of effort for himself.”
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But after returning to Barcelona from the international duty, Messi hit back at Lopes and Olhats’ accusations, telling reporters he is “tired of always being the problem”.
The Argentine forward said: “The truth is that I’m tired of always being the problem of everything at the club.”
When recently asked about his relationship with Messi, he said: “It has been similar to me relationship with [Kylian] Mbappe, at first we did not meet through the passes and it took me a long time to get along with him.
“With Messi everything will be better”.
