Lionel Messi's brother issues apology for bizarre Barcelona history rant: 'I was just making jokes'

• Stunning claims made about Blaugrana
• Club legends see achievements overlooked
• Matias has now backtracked on comments

WHAT HAPPENED? Matias suggested on streaming platform Twitch that his brother – who is a World Cup winner and has seven Ballons d’Or to his name – was solely responsible for making Barca a global superpower. He said: “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.”

WHAT THEY SAID: Some serious backtracking has now been taken in by Matias, with a post on Instagram reading: “I want to apologise for what I said on social networks: I was just making jokes with my son and my friends. How am I going to think that of a club as big as Barcelona and their history, which has given a lot both to 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.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The likes of Johan Cruyff, Rivaldo, Romario, Ronald Koeman, Laszlo Kubala, Carles Rexach and Sandor Kocsis all came before Messi at Barcelona, with several La Liga titles and a European Cup secured prior to an iconic Argentine arriving at Camp Nou and helping to deliver another glittering era of success.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

WHAT NEXT? Messi left Barca for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021, after seeing his contract come to a close, with a record-setting haul of 672 goals recorded for the Blaugrana through 778 appearances.