An audio leak revealed that Argentine star Lionel Messi, the former captain of Barcelona and currently the American soccer club Inter Miami, was involved in a corruption operation and a resounding scandal related to the secret deduction of some funds.
The story began in April 2020 after FC Barcelona had proposed reducing the salaries of its players by up to 70% following the Corona pandemic, which was agreed upon by the team’s stars, led by captain Lionel Messi.
The Spanish website "The OBJECTIVE" obtained messages and audio recordings exchanged between Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and his fellow Spanish defender Gerard Pique, with the former president of the Spanish Football Federation. Luis Rubiales, and Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin, President of the European Football Association (UEFA).
These recordings reveal attempts to transfer money from UEFA to some players to compensate them for the loss of salaries they suffered due to the consequences of the pandemic crisis.
In a call between Pique and Rubiales, the former Spanish defender spoke to his friend on behalf of Messi, to express to him the Argentine star’s concern about deducting a large portion of his salary, in response to the health crisis that also had an impact on the economy.
Rubiales communicated with Ceferin via WhatsApp messages and conveyed to him Pique’s proposal to use the federation’s revenues from UEFA to distribute them to the affected players.
Rubiales told Ceferin in the audio leak: “I spoke again with Leo Messi and Pique. You know that they know me well and I know them well as well, and Pique is a close friend of mine.”
The president of the Spanish Federation added: “Messi and Pique told me, please no one should know that we are talking, because if people know that we are talking about our money, all people will kill us, and I told them not to be afraid, and that the matter will remain secret.”
These exchanged messages and audio recordings may be evidence of the existence of a potential corruption network within football, but until now it has not been confirmed whether this request was actually behind Messi.
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