Lionel Messi claims he has been targeted by doping control officials

Lionel Messi with the match ball after scoring three goals during the match between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol

Lionel Messi, Argentina and Barcelona superstar, has taken to social media to complain about the selective treatment meted out to Barcelona players being tested for banned substances.

The reported incident took place when officers from AETSAD (Spanish Agency for Protection of Health in Sport), who work in conjunction with UEFA, paid a visit to the Catalan club on the eve of Wednesday’s Champions League match between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

Test were conducted on five selected players prior to Monday’s training sessions – Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic, Claudio Bravo and Jordi Alba. Afterwards, Messi took to his Instagram account to reveal that he had come under particular scrutiny.

“Doping control. Of the five chosen, I was the only one who had to give urine and blood samples... bit strange isn’t it?" he wrote.

Drug testing conspiracy

While it is not unusual for tests to be carried out on randomly selected players, it comes across as quite unusual for different athletes to have different parameters for testing.

There has been a conspiracy theory about the anti-doping body of football, quite popular in Argentina, that it is only a wing of the higher footballing administration. Diego Maradona remains the only player ever to have failed a World Cup drugs test after being sent home from the 1994 tournament.

In the 2014 World Cup, Maradona was one of the leading voices in the outrage after seven Costa Rica players were randomly tested after they qualified for the knockout stages.

Lionel Messi has scored 13 goals in 14 La Liga appearances this term, while netting an additional seven goals in five Champions League appearances. Given his figures, it is likely UEFA only wanted to to make sure the man is human.