Lionel Messi admits 'weird things' happening in Barcelona

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi admitted that he sees "weird things happening" in Barcelona. His statement came after the club president was forced to deny accusations of practicing unethical social media behaviour.

Recently, a Spanish radio station claimed that the defending La Liga champions hired a social media organisation to criticise some of the key figures associated with Barca, in an attempt to protect the reputation of club president, Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Reports claim that the firm was hired to publish stories with the intent of damaging the image of several current players as well as ex-players. These footballers had criticised Bartomeu in the past.

On Monday night, Barcelona released a statement on its website that denied any such wrongdoing. Bartomeu said on the club website on Tuesday that Barca hasn't contracted any services to disparage any players, and claimed the accusations to be completely false.

Club legend Messi said that he will wait and see if there is any truth behind the accusations.

He said, "I was a little surprised because I was not present, I was travelling. When I arrived, I discovered it all bit by bit. The president told us the same things he said in public, the same things he said at a press conference: what was the situation, what had happened. The truth is that I see weird things happening. But it was also said that there would be evidence. We will have to wait to see if it is true or not."

This social media controversy came just a few weeks after Messi had spoken out against the club's sporting director, Eric Abidal. In that regard, Abidal was the one to have first commented that the players did not work hard enough under Ernesto Valverde. Valverde was fired in January, and Quique Setién was brought in as his replacement until the end of the season.

Questions about the 32-year-old's future at the Camp Nou also emerged, but Messi expressed his desire to stay in the city. He said that Barcelona is his home and he has stayed there longer than in Argentina. It seems that Messi isn't planning to leave Barca anytime soon.