Barcelona’s players are helping the club’s non-playing staff in these difficult times with Lionel Messi speaking out in defence of his team-mates

Lionel Messi has hit out at Barcelona’s bigwigs for their handling of pay cut measures at the Nou Camp.

The Catalan side, like the majority of sporting organisations around the globe, are looking for the best way to handle the financial ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.

Laws in Spain allow the club to apply for an ERTE, which means they can impose a temporary pay cut of up 70% on their employees during these unprecedented times.

Messi and his team-mates will take the deduction but the law would’ve meant non-playing staff also had to accept the same cut.

The Argentine though released a statement on his Instagram which stated the club’s employees would retain the entirety of their salary.

It read:

“Beyond the reduction of 70% of our salaries during the state of alarm, we are also going to make further contribution to ensure that the employees can continue to be paid 100% of their salaries for as long as this situation lasts.”

Messi, however, added:

‘It never ceases to amaze us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass, adding pressure for us to do what we were always going to do anyway.

‘In fact, if we waited a few days it was only because we were trying to find a formula to help the club and its workers in such difficult times.’

Spain remains in complete lockdown until April 11 with 7,340 deaths from Covid-19, 1,410 of which have been recorded in Catalonia.

See his Instagram announcement below:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi) on Mar 30, 2020 at 4:11am PDT