Barcelona dismiss club official Pere Gratacós for remarks about Lionel Messi

Barcelona have punished the club official who caused a stir with remarks about Lionel Messi by sacking him.

Pere Gratacós, a former Barcelona B player, said following the Copa del Rey draw on Friday that it was Barcelona’s fellow big names who made Messi the player he is.

“Messi would not be as good without Iniesta, Neymar and co,” Gratacós said, according to the Spanish website Sport. “He’s the best, this is true.”

At a time when Barcelona are looking to keep Messi at the club on an extended contract, the comments apparently did not go down well. By the end of the day he had lost his job as the club’s head of sporting relations to the Spanish federation.

Barcelona said Gratacós would still have an undefined position with the club academy.

The club said in a statement: “FC Barcelona have dismissed Pere Gratacós as head of institutional sporting relations with the Royal Spanish Football Federation for having publicly expressed a personal opinion that does not match that of the club after the draw for the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey held today in Madrid.

“The decision has been taken by Albert Soler, director of professional sports, who will assume these functions directly from now on.”

Source:Guardian