Lionel Messi has hit back at suggestions players at Barcelona were being selfish and mean-spirited in their response to the Corona Virus crisis, calling out the club’s board and promising to take an extra pay-cut so everyone gets paid.

Messi used his Instagram account on Monday to confirm that Barcelona players will take a 70 per cent pay cut during Spain state of emergency. This comes after it had been suggested that the club’s best-paid professionals were the only ones against the pay-cuts announced last week.

And the captain, speaking for what appears to be a disgruntled squad, went on to suggest that certain members of the board had tried to make players look bad.

Messi wrote: ‘It never ceases to amaze us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass, adding pressure for us to do what we were always going to do anyway.

‘In fact, if we waited a few days it was only because we were trying to find a formula to help the club and its workers in such difficult times.’

Spain remains in complete lockdown until April 11 with 7,340 deaths from Covid-19, 1,410 of which have been recorded in Catalonia.