Lionel Messi issued a strong response to claims he paid Ronaldinho's bail.
The Brazilian, who assisted Messi's very first goal for Barcelona and quickly tipped him for stardom, was released on bail this week after spending 32 days inside a Paraguayan prison following a fake passport ordeal.
His lawyers paid a total of $1.6 million in bail for the 2005 Ballon d'Or and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira, who is also his manager.
There were some wild reports surfacing that Messi stepped in to help his former teammate out but Messi took to Instagram to brand the stories "fake news".
In the same post, the six-time Ballon d'Or winner also strongly denied reports that he has offers on the table from former club Newell's Old Boys and Inter Milan to leave Barcelona.
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"What they said in this same newspaper about Newell's [Old Boys] a few weeks ago was also false," Messi wrote on social media.
"Thank goodness that nobody believes them anymore."
The reports came about as a follow-on from Messi being at odds with his employers on a number of occasions of late, notably slamming sporting director Eric Abidal as well as his strong statement on the Blaugrana players taking a 70 per cent pay decrease due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Messi, who has scored an outrageous 627 goals at club level for Barcelona, has a special clause in his Barca contract that allows him to terminate his deal at the end of every season
Topics: Ronaldinho, Football, Messi, Lionel Messi
