Meeting planned: Barcelona chief to hold crunch talks amid Abidal-Messi spat

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Barcelona club president Josep Maria Bartomeu could reportedly act swiftly after a war of words between sporting director Eric Abidal and Lionel Messi.

As noted by the Guardian, the pair clashed publicly this week after initial comments from the Frenchman where he seemingly criticised some of the players after the sacking of Ernesto Valverde.

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Messi responded on social media, rather uncharacteristically, as he insisted that Abidal should name names and called on the Barca chief to take responsibility for his own decisions.

Naturally, this is not something Barcelona want to see escalate, and particularly given it’s Messi, they will not want to see him grow unhappy as he remains an indispensable part of their plans moving forward.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Bartomeu is set to return to the city on Wednesday and a meeting is said to have been scheduled with Abidal to discuss the situation.

Further, it’s suggested that the 40-year-old being dismissed from his role as sporting director has not been ruled out, and so it remains to be seen what comes from these touted discussions.

This is an unwanted distraction for the Catalan giants who have it all to do on the pitch in the coming months as they’re chasing Real Madrid in the La Liga title race and will want to land the Copa del Rey and Champions League.

However, coach Quique Setien was handed another blow this week as Ousmane Dembele suffered an injury setback, and with Luis Suarez already sidelined after undergoing knee surgery last month, it’s the last thing that the Barcelona boss needed.

Now with this situation hanging over their heads, Bartomeu is right to try and address it as quickly as possible, but it’s unclear at this stage as to what it will result in for Abidal’s future at the club.

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