'Fake news!': Lionel Messi SLAMS reports he is leaving Barcelona for Inter Milan and that he paid Ronaldinho's bail to free former team-mate from Paraguay prison in angry Instagram post

  • Lionel Messi was accused of paying Ronaldinho's bail to escape jail in Paraguay
  • Reports also emerged of Messi leaving Barcelona this year for a new challenge
  • The Argentinian forward has been linked with Inter Milan and Newell's Old Boys
  • Messi addressed these rumours in an angry Instagram post on Thursday

Lionel Messi has branded claims that he is leaving Barcelona as lies and fake news. 

The Argentinian superstar also denied reports saying he paid former Barcelona and Brazil legend Ronaldinho's bail money to escape his Paraguayan jail cell.

Messi addressed these rumours in an angry Instagram story post where he denied the Ronaldinho story and also distanced himself from potential moves this year to either Inter Milan or Argentinian side Newell's Old Boys.

Lionel Messi denied reports he is leaving Barcelona and that he paid Ronaldinho's bail

Lionel Messi denied reports he is leaving Barcelona and that he paid Ronaldinho's bail

Messi posted an angry Instagram post and branded Newell Old Boys transfer links as untrue

Messi posted an angry Instagram post and branded Newell Old Boys transfer links as untrue

The forward described the Inter Milan and Ronaldinho news stories as 'Lie no.1' and 'Lie no.2' before adding: 'What they said about Newell's Old Boys a few weeks ago is also false, thank God no one believed them...'


Ronaldinho spent 32 days in prison after his and his brother Roberto's arrest on March 6 after allegedly entering Paraguay on fake passports that said they had Paraguayan citizenship.

He was released this week and has been put on house arrest at the Palmaroga hotel in the country's capital of Asuncion. 

Messi's future at Barcelona has been a topic of intense speculation this season, with the Barcelona captain frequently falling out with members of the club's hierarchy over the past 12 months. 

The striker slammed comments made by technical director Eric Abidal earlier this season which stated that Barcelona's players were the reason why former manager Ernesto Valverde got the sack.

Former Barca superstar Ronaldinho spent 32 days in a Paraguay prison last month

Former Barca superstar Ronaldinho spent 32 days in a Paraguay prison last month

Messi has argued many times with Barcelona chiefs this year and his future is uncertain

Messi has argued many times with Barcelona chiefs this year and his future is uncertain

Then the Barcelona's talisman publicly crticised the club in another angry Instagram post over the club's decision to furlough staff this week as Spain suffers from the coronavirus, despite Messi and other high-profile Barcelona players agreeing to take a pay cut. 

Messi, who has also donated €1m to hospitals in Catalonia and Argentina to help the battle against the coronavirus, said: '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.'

And with Messi's contract at Barcelona up at the end of the season, albeit with an option to renew it for an extra year, the Argentina forward's departure from Barcelona has never been this close. 

Former Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti also admitted that it was 'by no means an impossible dream' for the Serie A club to sign Messi this year given these circumstances.

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