Messi denies meeting with Barca chief Laporta: "You lie... once again"

Leo Messi, a day after receiving his 8th Ballon d'Or, published a story on his Instagram profile to deny a report by journalist Gerard Romero on his platform 'Jijantes'. The streamer had indicated that the player had been talking to Barcelona president Joan Laporta about a hypothetical tribute in the near future after the gala and the No.10 replied by calling him a liar. It is not the first time he has done so.
"You lie... once again...", wrote the world champion next to an emoticon with a big nose in allusion to Pinocchio. The former PSG player may be a little annoyed with the Spanish journalist because he spoke intensely about his possible return to the 'Cules' after it was confirmed that he would not be staying at Paris Saint-Germain. In an interview following the announcement of his signing with Inter Miami, he hinted that he was outraged that so much hype was given to an option that was not as much on the table as it was made out to be.
Interestingly, the flagship of David Beckham's US club had another run-in with a regular social media face, Ibai Llanos, after the 'France Football' ceremony. This one was in a much more relaxed tone. The Argentinian reproached the Spaniard for making public a conversation they had via chat - "I'm angry with you" - and, although he reprimanded him, he did so amid laughter and good-natured comments.

Gerard Romero, shortly after Leo Messi published the 'story' described above, took to his Twitter account -or X- to apologise. "A thousand apologies to everyone, and a THOUSAND MORE. I've been fooled again with something related to LEO. I don't learn. I'm sorry. VERY f*cked up. I accept everything you tell me and I promise we will work to make sure it doesn't happen again. Apologies," he wrote, quoting the tweet with the information that triggered the whole mess.