Barcelona President Accused Of Hiring Social Media Company To Destroy Lionel Messi

FC Barcelona’s president reportedly hired a social media company to criticize their own club captain Lionel Messi and other soccer greats.

A bizarre story has just emerged from Barca recently as reports claim that the club’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu has pulled off an extreme measure in cleaning his reputation amid all the drama between Messi and the team.

As most football fans know, Barcelona's 2019/20 season has been one littered with controversy. Ernesto Valverde's sacking and Messi's online feud with Eric Abidal certainly fueled most of it.

But things took a huge turn when Bartomeu allegedly hired a social media company named “I3 Ventures” to attack the club's players, potential presidents and club legends online and at the same time, clean his own image, Sport reported.

Barca Universal made a compilation of a few example of the posts allegedly made by I3 Ventures.

The club's greatest player and long-time captain Messi evidently was the target of online criticism from a litany of social media accounts reportedly controlled by the said company.

But d espite all the controversies, Barcelona has not given up on Messi. The 6-time Ballon d’Or winner is playing his worst La Liga season in over six years. Since the 2013-14 season, when he suffered physical problems, “Leo” has never gone more than four games without scoring in LaLiga.

Messi’s goal scoring drought started at Mestalla against Valencia in Week 21. The Argentine has continued his goalless performances in subsequent games against Levante, Betis and the latest meeting with Getafe

Though Messi is hitting one of the worst runs in his career, Barcelona has never let their captain down. In fact, the club even boasted about how Messi has been “ involved in 26 Liga goals ” on their official website. The club also noted that after Messi “scored 14 goals and dished out 12 assists,” the Argentinian now tops both categories in the competition and is ranked second overall in the top European leagues.

It’s really hard to tell whether the recent controversies plaguing Barcelona affects its players especially Messi. But regardless of the truth and how exactly does it damage all the people involved, one thing is clear at this point – Barcelona’s reputation is diminishing with each passing week. And for obvious reasons, this sort of allegations certainly does not do any help. Many believe that the board is doing irreversible damage to the club and Bartomeu's actions could even push Messi to finally leave the club.