Yesterday, upon returning from the national team, the Argentine received an inspection from the Treasury at the airport

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 Leo Messi underwent a tax inspection on Wednesday right when he landed in Barcelona after returning from the concentration with the Argentine national team. The Argentine was questioned by several agents of the Customs Surveillance in the private jet in which he traveled from South America. The football player's companions and the plane's crew also had to answer questions from the officials, who, in addition, demanded documents from the expedition. The scene lasted nearly an hour. Minutes later, with his foot on the ground, Messi had to pay a tax at customs, according to TV3.


The sequence of events caused the Argentine, who normally does not make statements to the journalists who usually wait for him in the corporate terminals of the airports, to explode. This time, however, he did take the opportunity to verbalize the discomfort that has been dragging Barça for some time. Almost three months after sending a burofax to try to leave free - with the 2-8 in Lisbon behind -, he made it very clear that he continues to dislike the Blaugrana club. Not even the en bloc resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu's board of directors, which flatly refused to let him out, has calmed his spirits. And in a month and a half he will be able to negotiate with any other club, as his contract expires in June 2021.


Hot on the heels of the Treasury inspection he had just received, Messi shot back: "I'm tired of always being the problem for everything at the club." This is how the Blaugrana 10 responded to a question about the statements made by Antoine Griezmann's entourage, who these days has criticized the Frenchman's adaptation to Barça. The striker's uncle, Emmanuel Lopes, hinted in a documentary that the team's training sessions "are designed to please certain people". Eric Olhats, former representative of Griezmann, was much more explicit in an interview with France Football. "Messi is emperor and monarch. He did not approve the signing of Antoine and his attitude is regrettable. He applies the regime of terror. Either you are with him or you are against him," he said.


These statements against Messi are added to the words that former Barça coach Quique Setién said a few weeks ago about the day-to-day management of the Argentine . "There are players who are not easy to manage. Among them, the truth, Leo. It must also be taken into account that he is the best footballer of all time. And who am I to change him? If there [ in Barcelona] have accepted it as it is and have not changed it...", the Cantabrian explained in an interview with El País .


Messi, in the middle of the electoral campaign

Aware that Messi was at risk of continuing to shoot with his tongue, his personal assistant, Pepe Costa, hurried to get to the car and save more questions from the reporters. However, it did not prevent the striker from showing his disgust for the scene he had experienced on the plane: "After 15 hours of flight I meet the people from the Treasury doing an inspection." Surely the questions from the Customs Surveillance reminded him that in 2017 the Barcelona Court sentenced him to 21 months in prison for defrauding 4.1 million during the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. That procedure ended with Messi avoiding the prison sentence, but paying the defrauded amount and a fine of 250,000 euros.


Rosario's was on the verge of leaving Barça due to the uproar that sparked his problems with the Treasury. Now there is also a debate about his future at the Barcelona club, which with the contract in hand has an expiration date: June 30 of next year. At the moment, the club, now through the manager of Carles Tusquets, has not proposed to renew it, but to defer the payments to adjust the wage bill of the first team to the decrease in income in recent months due to of covid-19. A negotiation that in theory ends on Monday and which, apparently, will still do so without an agreement. All this with the elections for the presidency of the organization scheduled for January 24 and with Messi, of course, in the middle of the pre-campaign.