Barcelona: tensions escalate between players and the club
The Catalan media highlight the deterioration in the relationship between the dressing room and top brass at FC Barcelona.
Just two days before Barcelona make their home debut in this season's Champions League, the club finds itself heacily in the media spotlight for a supposed rupture between players and club directors. In Monday's edition of Sport, two pages are dedicated to the deterioration of the relationship between the dressing room and Bartomeu's board.
Messi not happy with the club's lame attempt to bring Neymar back
Sport report that the tension between the squad and top officials isn't new and refer to comments Leo Messi made about the club's attempts to re-sign Neymar over the summer: "I don't know to be honest if they did eveything they possibly could [to sign him]. I didn't have a lot of information about how the negotiacions went - only that they had spoken to Ney. He was keen to come back. I don't know if the club really wanted him back or not. I don't want to leave Barcelona - this is my home but I want to be part of a project which is capable of winning silverware"
Mundo Deportivo meanwhile highlighted Gerard Piqué's comments following Saturday's game against Getafe at the Coliseum. Those comments did not go down well in the back offices at Camp Nou - especially seeing as they came from one of the captains and that has only increased the tension.
National daily El País leads their sports section with an article on the rupture at Barcelona. "The Barça squad received a bonus for every win and have pay deducted when they lose - a pact which hasn't been signed but is understood by both parties. It all came to light after the defeat at Anfield and now, apathy sets in once a game has been resolved - as we saw in Getafe because the balance at the end of the season isn't about how many trophies the team own anymore", Ramón Besa began his piece.
Time to be united, says Piqué
Gerard Piqué spoke about the situation after the Getafe game and the 'therapy dinner' that the squad held last Wednesday. "It was the team who organized the dinner. It's always nice to get together but we need to be united. When I say we need to be united, I am also talking about about the fans and the board of directors. We know the club and those of them who know us, we know who wrote certain articles - even though they were not signed. We don't want to get angry. We want to pull ourselves out of this and start winning again. We hope nobody tries to provoke battles where none exist - none of us want that. The club has to stay united. If it doesn't, we'll be kicking ourselves in the foot".