‘Just joking’: Messi’s brother apologises for his Barcelona rant

Matias Messi, Lionel Messi's elder brother, was quick to apologise right after making fiery comments on FC Barcelona, its club president and fans.

The 40-year-old made his rant on his son's Twitch channel, Labajada10, where he said Barcelona was an unknown club before Messi arrived at the scene, among other things.  

"I don't know about you, but Barcelona became known thanks to Messi. Nobody knew about them before. Whoever's had the chance to go to Barcelona and see the museum, you can see that the museum is Messi," said Matias.

He ruled out Messi's return to the Catalan side and slated Barcelona president Joan Laporta, under whose tenure the Argentine talisman saw his unintentional exit after scoring 672 goals in 778 appearances for Barcelona.   

"We are not going to return to Barcelona. And even if we do, we are going to do a neat clean-up.

"Among them is kicking out Joan Laporta, [since he is] ungrateful for all that Messi gave to Barcelona."

Furthermore, Matias attacked Barcelona supporters, labelling them as "traitors" and revealed that Messi was warned by his mother that he would get the same treatment as received by Ronaldinho, the Brazilian playmaker whose legendary run was short-lived in Barcelona.  

"The people didn't help him, they should have gone out for a march or something, let Laporta go and let Messi stay.

"The Catalans are traitors. My mom told Lionel once, they're going to treat you like Ronaldinho."

After his rant went viral on social media yesterday, Matias was quick to make an apology post, on his Instagram handle.

"I want to apologise for what I said on social media. I was just joking with my son and my friends. How am I going to think in that way of a club as huge as Barcelona and their history, a club that has given so much to both my family and Leo? For us, Catalonia is our second home and that is well known. I'm very sorry and I apologise to everyone, especially the Barcelona fans."

As of yet, Messi has not made any comment on the matter.