Barcelona ace Leo Messi admits he took personally claims from sporting director Eric Abidal last month.

Abidal's suggestion that the players were keen to see former coach Ernesto Valverde moved on infuriated the locker room and saw Messi respond on social media.

He explained to Mundo Deportivo: "I don't know what happened to him to say that, but I think I responded because I felt attacked. I felt that he was attacking the players. And too many things are said about the dressing room, as if it handles everything, that it takes on and takes off coaches, brings players and especially from me.

"Like I have a lot of power and I make decisions? And it bothered me to say that a person from the club, a technical secretary ... to put the players in the middle of a dismissal such as that of the coach seemed crazy. He is the technical secretary who makes the decisions and has to take charge.

"He is the one who makes the decisions. That's why I went to clarify it, I knew I couldn't let the sports director attack me that way."

Messi added: "That's why he said that if he attacked the locker room, I told him to give names and say who that person was before making it general."