Lionel Messi 'walked away' from a picture with a person at the Ballon d'Or ceremony because he felt 'betrayed'

Lionel Messi 'walked away' from a picture with a high-profile figure at the Ballon d'Or ceremony as he felt 'betrayed'.

Messi collected his eighth Ballon d'Or award in Paris earlier this week as he beat Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain Kylian Mbappe to the prestigious individual prize.

He received 462 votes, but SIX countries somehow failed to vote for the superstar forward in the Ballon d'Or voting.

Despite the joyous occasion, the 36-year-old wasn't happy with a particular incident as he 'walked away' from a picture.

According to Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, Messi snubbed a picture with Joan Laporta at the Ballon d'Or event.

It's claimed that Laporta asked for a picture with the Barcelona legend, but he rejected the photo as he stills feels 'betrayed'.

Balague said: "Messi was taking pictures with Aitana Bonmatí and Laporta was nearby smiling and wanted to talk and have picture with Messi, but Messi ignored him and walked away."

Lionel Messi on the red carpet at the Ballon d'Or ceremony. Image: Getty

Spanish journalist Gerard Romero had claimed Messi spoke with Laporta at the Ballon d'Or gala.

But the Inter Miami player denied he interacted with the Barca president.

On Instagram, he exclaimed: "You lie once again."

Romero responded by issuing an apology on social media. He wrote: "A THOUSAND APOLOGIES to all, and A THOUSAND MORE. I have been fooled again with something related to LEO. I'm not learning. I'm sorry. VERY f***ed up. I accept everything you tell me today and I promise that we will work to ensure that it does not happen again."

SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated news channel to send you the latest news, features and plenty more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.