If something was lacking in the sporting and institutional moment that Barcelona is experiencing, it was that Justice detained Josep Maria Bartomeu, former president of the institution, on Monday morning, because he is being investigated in the framework of the case called Barçagate, for the leaking of player contracts and attacks on social networks they receive, among other issues. And if there's a player who was a victim in excess of this harassment, it's Lionel Messi.
Even without extending his link with the institution that ends in June, and which has several candidates to hire him, the judicial situation could "play in favor" of the Rosario to continue in the club. Why? Because what everyone suspected would be confirmed: Bartomeu and his entire board of directors were in charge of filtering contracts and generating fictitious users of social networks to criticize him for a bad performance.
Messi's an absolute idol of Catalan fans. There is not a single Barça fan who does not love or admire him. In that sense, last year, when Bartomeu resigned, they held endless marches defending Rosario and criticizing him harshly. With this outlook, will Messi renew his contract in the next few days or will he wait for the transfer market to define his future?
What is Barçagate?
It all started in February 2020, a little over a year ago now, when Cadena Ser brought to light the news that the Barça club had hired an external company, I3 Ventures, to supposedly improve the public image of the then president, Bartomeu. I3 Ventures was also associated with a series of defamatory accounts on social networks, which spread messages against players from the club itself, as well as against opponents of the management team and the Barça environment. Among those targeted there was a central protagonist: Leo Messi, the club's top star. Other companies that are under the magnifying glass of the judge are: SG Social Science Ventures SL, Tantra Soft SA, Digital Side SA, Big Data Solutions SA and Futuric SA.
