Barcelona manager Quique Setien has played down Lionel Messi’s row with Eric Abidal, insisting problems arise at every club in world football.
Abidal, the LaLiga side’s sporting director, claimed in a recent interview with a Spanish newspaper that a number of players were not working hard enough under Ernesto Valverde, who was sacked last month.
Lionel Messi was incensed with Eric Abidal’s remarks
Valverde left the Catalan giants lying top of the table, with Setien named as his replacement.
But in a lengthy Instagram post, Messi, who played alongside Abidal at the Nou Camp, hit back at his former team-mate for his ill-advised comments.
Messi, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, wrote: “Honestly, I don’t like doing these things but I think that everyone has to be responsible for his acts and take responsibility for their own decisions.
“The players [are responsible for] what happens on the pitch, and we have been the first to recognise when we were not good. The people in the sporting directorate should also assume their responsibility and above all take ownership of the decisions they make.
Messi posted the above message on Instagram
“Finally, I think that when players are talked about, names should be given because, if not, we are all being dirtied and it feeds comments that are made and are not true.”
The row between Messi and Abidal has cast a cloud over the Spanish giants, who trail La Liga leaders’ Real Madrid by three points.
But speaking ahead of his side’s clash against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey on Thursday, Setien said: “I will focus on what I have to focus on, and that is football. As for everything else I am truly not interested.
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“I know that there are problems in all clubs around the world, for sure.
“But there are things I will never be able to control so I need to focus on what I can focus on.
“Talk to me about football, please. I want to go to training, prepare well for the game and focus on things I need to focus on. Everything else doesn’t help me to do my job.”