Abidal and Messi played together at Barcelona between 2007 and 2013, with the French defender returning to the club after retirement to become sporting director in June 2018. Lionel Messi has criticised Barcelona sporting director Eric Abidal for saying players were not working hard under former coach Ernesto Valverde. Abidal, a former team-mate of Messi, made the comments in an interview with Spanish newspaper Diario Sport. In the newspaper interview Abidal said: "Many players weren't satisfied or working hard and there was also an internal communication problem. In his interview with Diario Sport, Abidal also said he thought Messi was happy at the club and a new contract for the Argentine talisman was currently being negotiated.

Source: BBC February 04, 2020 21:22 UTC