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Lionel Messi and his FC Barcelona teammates are just the latest of a long line of high-profile athletes to step up and help employees of their team.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner posted on Instagram that he and his fellow teammates will be taking a 70% pay cut and will make additional contributions to make sure that Barcelona employees will receive 100% of their salaries while La Liga is suspended amid the current crisis.
Leo Messi statement "the time has come to announce that, as well as the 70% reduction in our salaries during the state of alarm, we are going to make contributions too so that club employees can receive 100% of their salaries while this situation lasts" pic.twitter.com/CgJf5wBEGH
— The Spanish Football Podcast (@tsf_podcast) March 30, 2020
On top of announcing the pay cut, Messi’s statement also addressed the criticism that players have faced for taking so long to make this particular decision. The 32-year-old said that this was always something the team was planning on doing.
“It has surprised us that within the club people have tried to put us under scrutiny and put pressure on us to do something we were always going to do,” Messi’s statement read according to For The Win.
“If the agreement has been delayed a few days, it’s because we were looking for a formula to help the club and also its workers in this difficult time. We didn’t speak until now because our priority was to find real solutions to help the club, but also those most affected.”
FC Barcelona is one of the very few massive clubs that isn’t actually owned by one owner or wealthy ownership group. Instead, the club is owned by over 100,000 supporters or ‘members’ that donate a certain amount of money annually. The members also vote on a club president every four years.