Former Real Madrid centre-back Oscar Ruggeri has urged Leo Messi to leave Barcelona.

The Argentine indicated that Barcelona have mistreated Messi and claimed that the club are not respected any more by opponents in Europe.

"Messi has to leave the club," Ruggeri told ESPN. "He is still the best, but all the teams have lost respect for Barcelona.

"It's over, he has to go, they did a lot of things to him and we have come to this.

"They kicked out [Luis Suarez], and forgot he's [his] friend, [part of] the family. Suarez is a scorer. You can't kick him out. Not many players are at Suarez's level nowadays.

"Now Messi wants to come to Argentina, before it was the other way around. Now he would shoot [someone] to come to the national team, before he escaped from it. He's lost respect for Barcelona."