He added: “We want to clarify that our desire has always been to apply a drop in salary because we fully understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are the first ones who have ALWAYS helped the club when asked.

“Many times we have even done it on our own initiative when we thought it necessary or important.

“Therefore, it never ceases to amaze us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass and tried to add pressure to do something that we always knew we would do.”

Messi’s message was soon posted on the pages of nearly all of his Barcelona teammates, including Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong, Arturo Vidal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The relationship between Barca’s players and board has been tense for several months, with Messi’s public criticism of technical secretary Eric Abidal in February just one of a number of off-field controversies.

Barcelona released their own statement shortly afterwards on Monday, which said members of “all professional sports teams and most of the basketball team” had agreed to reduce their salaries.

It added: “In the case of the football first team the reduction will be more than 70 per cent as agreed with the club. This additional contribution by the team, plus the contribution from the club itself, will guarantee 100 per cent of the salaries of all non-sporting staff, who will be subjected to temporary redundancy this week.”