Messi confirms pay cut, fires at board
Lionel Messi confirmed on Monday that Barcelona's players will take a 70 per cent pay cut and make financial contributions to ensure the club's other employees are paid in full during the state of alarm in Spain.
After announcing the pay cut, he added: "We want to clarify that our desire has always been to apply a drop in salary because we fully understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are the first ones who have ALWAYS helped the club when asked. Many times we have even done it on our own initiative when we thought it necessary or important. Therefore, it never ceases to amaze us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass and tried to add pressure to do something that we always knew we would do."
Messi's message was soon posted by teammates, including Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong.
Barcelona released their own statement shortly afterwards, which said members of "all professional sports teams and most of the basketball team" had agreed to reduce their salaries.
Earlier, Atletico Madrid said they will impose salary reductions on staff whose hours have been affected while Espanyol confirmed pay cuts for sporting staff.
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