Comment about Barcelona's attacker Lionel Messi harshly offended the Catalan team's director Pere Gratacos. The specialist responsible for the team's training and improvement stated on Friday that the 29-year-old Argentine would not be as good if it weren't for his club teammates. "Barcelona reached this stage not only because of L. Messi's merits," Gratacos said in the draw for the quarterfinals of the King's Cup. "He is very important, but the whole team won the victory against Athletic. Without Neymar, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, and others, Lionel would not be such a good player." Barcelona's leaders reacted quickly and showed the door to the director for "comments that do not match the team's position." However, Pere was not completely expelled from the team - he will continue his work in the youth academy project "Masia 360."
