Rivaldo: Messi has every right in the world to be angry with Abidal Barcelona Gave his thoughts on the disagreement

Former Barcelona forward Rivaldo has offered his opinion on the public disagreement between Lionel Messi and Barcelona sporting director Eric Abidal, making clear that the Argentine was right to be angry with the Frenchman.

Abidal intimated that the reason behind Ernesto Valverde's sacking was because the players were not working hard enough, to which Messi responded by asking him to name names and to not tarnish the players' reputations.

"Messi has every right in the world to be angry with Abidal about the way he complained about the professionalism of some players in training, especially when he did not cite any specific name," Rivaldo told Betfair.

"That questioned the entire workforce.

"Messi only tried to defend the group and himself. To maintain its reputation and at the same time find out which players Abidal was referring to.

"Abidal was naive by saying something like that in an interview that, for sure, would have a great media impact, and therefore forced Messi to react.

"It should be resolved internally."

Turning his attention towards Valverde, Rivaldo states that the problems at Barcelona go beyond the former Athletic Club coach.

"Now it is clear that Ernesto Valverde was not the biggest problem for the club," Rivaldo noted.

"The biggest loser of all this is Barcelona.

"Abidal is in a difficult situation, especially because the player who has reacted to his statements is not [just] an individual: he is the captain of Barcelona and a superstar. It's Leo Messi!

"Regaining a path of victories will calm all this furore."

The Brazilian has also stated that Barcelona should try and bring Neymar back to the club from Paris Saint-Germain.

"The club needs a player to make the difference when necessary and, in my opinion, that player is Neymar," Rivaldo added.

"Barcelona should perhaps continue considering his signing for next summer.

"The club are not responsible for Neymar leaving a couple of years ago.

"It's been a while since that and maybe it's time for negotiations that allow his return [for him] to spend his best years at the Camp Nou."