As Lionel Messi enters the last year of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain,  speculations around his future are gaining steam, with many predicting the legend’s return to his boyhood club FC Barcelona. However, his brother Matias sparked a massive controversy with his passionate commentary on the whole situation. 

Matias laughed at the rumors about Messi joining Barcelona once his contract expires, and added for that to happen, the club will first need to kick out the current president Joan Laporta. 

“I have a SPORT cutting that says “Messi should return to Barcelona” and I’ve put underneath it “Hahaha”. We are not going back to Barcelona, and if we do, we are going to have a good clearout, kicking-out, among others, Joan Laporta who is ungrateful after all that Messi did for Barcelona,” said Matias in a viral video that has now been deleted. 

Matias didn’t stop at Laporta, as his focus then shifted towards the Barca fans, whom he termed “traitors” for not doing enough to stop Messi. “People (in Barcelona) did not support him. People should have gone out to do a march or something, let Laporta leave and Messi stay. The Spanish are traitors. I tell you because I want it to come out of our guts and not listen to things that are not true,” he added.

Realizing he crossed the line, Matias soon issued an apology on Instagram, stating “I was just joking with my son and friends. How can I think that of a club as big as Barcelona, which has given so much to my family and Leo. Catalonia is our second home and that is public knowledge.”

Messi had to leave Barcelona a couple of years ago, thanks to the financial turmoil the club found themselves in after years of fiscal mismanagement and reckless signings under the presidential tenure of Josep Maria Bartomeu. The club had to relieve Messi in order to comply with the financial fair play rules of La Liga. The Argentine had spent two decades at the Catalan-based club, winning ten La Liga and four Champions League titles.

Messi, however, is unlikely to part ways with the PSG, where he forms one-third of the fearsome attacking troika comprising Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.