Lionel Messi News: Junior Firpo forced to apologize after tweets emerge of him using abusive words against the Barcelona captain

What’s the story?

New Barcelona signing Junior Firpo has apologized after tweets emerged of him claiming to break Lionel Messi’s legs with “one kick” and calling him names. Branding those tweets as “kids stuff”, the left-back has defended himself by saying it was an act of immaturity.

In case you didn’t know...

Firpo became Barcelona’s fourth signing of the summer after completing his move from Real Betis to the Camp Nou in a transfer worth around £27.5 million.

The talented full-back, who made his name while playing for Betis last season, was a part of the team which edged out Barcelona 4-3 at the Camp Nou in La Liga.

Spanish daily AS recently sparked controversy after highlighting some of Firpo’s tweets when he was 15 years old. The now 22-year-old bragged that he “could probably break Messi’s legs” with “one kick”, and even branded the Barcelona captain as a “son of a bi***.”

There were also reports of the full back tweeting: “I do not give a cr** that sh**** rat Messi got injured. I hope he dies and stops scoring goals hahaha.”

The heart of the matter

In a recent interview with Catalan-based daily, Mundo Deportivo, Firpo explained:

“It turns out that my best friend at the time was from Barça and therefore he was also a Messi fan because Leo is the best without discussion. And I told him to say ugly things about Messi on Twitter.

“That’s it, kids stuff. Also from that time there has been a tweet of mine that said some silly Julia, who was then my girlfriend and now is my wife and mother of my daughter.

“They are things that are done with 15 years when nobody knows you and when you cannot think that this will have an impact years later, because when you put it on or imagine that you will become a professional.

“But I also say that if for those tweets someone has felt offended and I have to apologize and apologize, I do it humbly and without problems.”

What’s next?

Given the fact that Messi is synonymous to Barcelona, it will be interesting to see how the Blaugrana dressing room will react to this.