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Former Barcelona manager Quique Setien and captain Lionel Messi had an explosive clash, according to new details of a heated exchange between the pair.
Setien was removed from his post as Barcelona coach over the summer after the manager oversaw the humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
The 61-year-old also saw Barcelona’s lead at the top of LaLiga, allowing archrival Real Madrid to win the league title last season.
Barcelona’s season quickly unraveled, with Messi visibly frustrated with Setién’s tactics as tensions rose between the Argentine superstar and the club’s management.
And new details have emerged of an explosive clash between the experienced coach and the 33-year-old manager after Barça gave points to Celta de Vigo in June.
The Catalan giants drew 2-2 with Celta, thus putting Zinedine Zidane’s team in the driver’s seat to win the title for the first time since 2017.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Messi questioned Setién’s tactic after the disappointing result, urging the coach to respect the players who have won more than him.
“If you don’t like what I said, you know where the door is,” Setien replied, to which Messi reportedly laughed.
Messi sought to leave Barcelona this summer, and the Argentine expressed his desire to activate a clause that would allow him to leave for free, ending a nearly two-decade stint at the club.
The move came as a result of frustrations with the club’s hierarchy, in particular the club’s president, Josep Bartomeu, who turned out to be an unpopular figure within the locker room.
Bartomeu insisted that the clause could not be activated and that any club that wanted to buy the star would have to comply with his buyout clause of 600 million pounds, amid the interest of Manchester City and Inter Milan.
Messi waved the white flag in his attempt to leave the club, stressing that he did not want to take the club to court over the legitimacy of the clause. His contract is believed to expire next summer.
Since then, Ronald Koeman has assumed the position of coach of the team, after having had an uneven start to the campaign, typified by the tie with Alavés at the weekend.
Meanwhile, Bartomeu and the Barcelona board have resigned from their positions amid a vote of no confidence from the club’s members.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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