LIONEL MESSI has donated £440,000 to help the battle against coronavirus in Argentina.
The 32-year-old’s home country has now been struck by 6,278 cases, suffering 314 fatalities to date.
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Messi has made another sizeable donation to the causeCredit: AP:Associated Press
And Messi, who hails from Rosario, wants to do his bit to help.
The generous star made the donation to the Fundacion Garrahan’s “Juntos por la salud Argentina” campaign – which translates as “Together for Argentine health”.
And Dr. Silvia Kassab, executive director of Fundacion Garrahan, expressed her gratitude.
She said: “We are very grateful for this recognition of our work, which will allow us to continue with our commitment to public health in Argentina.”
It’s not the first time the six-time Ballon d’Or winner has stepped up to help in the last couple of months.
Back in March he made a staggering donation worth around £880k to charitable causes.
Around half of this went back to his homeland, while the rest went to Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic.
He has also taken part in a number of campaigns, raising awareness for the importance of washing your hands and staying at home during this troubling time.
In addition to this, as Barcelona skipper he announced that the first-team squad would be taking 70 per cent wage cuts during the pandemic, as well as extra to ensure that the club’s staff would be paid in full.
The episode was the latest in a series of tense moments between the playing staff and the board, with Messi largely front and centre.
Unhappy at being pressured and made to look bad by club executives, Messi and Co hit back by releasing a statement.
It read: “It doesn’t surprise us that the club wanted to put us back under the microscope and try to pressure us into doing something we were always going to do.
“If the agreement has been delayed in the last few days, it’s simply because we were finding a formula to help the club and also our employees in such difficult times.”
Barcelona have now returned to trainingCredit: AFP
After a number of weeks housebound, Barcelona have now returned to training, as LaLiga attempt to engineer a restart.
League chief Javier Tebas hopes to have the show back on the road on June 12, with a bumper 35 days of action to follow in order to complete the season.
Prior to the division’s suspension, Barcelona had led rivals Real Madrid by two points at the top of the table.
Barcelona’s Arthur Melo is busy keeping in shape as he stays at home for lockdown
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
