New Delhi: Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has barred star player Lionel Messi from travelling to Scotland for Argentina’s international friendly next week.
Both the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and the country’s new national team coach, Diego Maradona, had previously agreed on a deal with FC Barcelona to omit their star forward, Lionel Messi from the November 19 friendly against Scotland at Hampden Park.
But despite the arrangement, Messi himself had stated during the press conference after the midweek Copa del Rey win over Benidorm that he wanted to travel to Glasgow to meet up with his teammates and new coach and subsequently watch the match in the flesh from the stands.
However, upon hearing this news from the reporters during his own post-game press call, Barca coach Pep Guardiola was believed to be less than happy with the 21 year old’s remarks as he shot back to the journalists: “That’s not the right thing to do. He should have spoken with me first.”
Both coach and player have since cleared the air during Thursday’s training session.
Guardiola first notified Messi to always speak to him first before making any announcements to the press; and then he informed the Argentine that it will not be possible to release him from the squad to travel to Scotland as the remaining non-internationals have to continue with training as scheduled.
It was reported that Messi had no issues with his coach’s decision.
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