Father furious at Messi row

Leo Messi's father is furious that clubs are using his son to fight political battles.

Leo Messi's father is furious that clubs in Spain are using his son to fight political battles with Barcelona, but insisted the youngster is remaining calm throughout the furore.

Deportivo La Coruna and Alaves have both made complaints about the young Argentine claiming that he is ineligible and should not be allowed to play in league games.

The starlet's father Jorge Messi is outraged that a case has been launched to prevent his son from playing.

"They are using my boy to attack Barcelona," he said.

"What do they hope to achieve? It is simply inconceivable. The truth is, the intellectual capacity of the people doing this amazes me.

"They must have a really big grudge against the club to use an 18-year-old to fight their battles over.

"Leo is calm though. He is just waiting for all the fuss to blow over. He is a European citizen, he has the passport and there is nothing more we have to do."

Messi was prevented from playing for Barca in domestic competition until he had been given a Spanish passport as the club have already fulfilled their quota of non-EU players.

Now complaints have been made that he cannot be registered as a player with Barca's first team as it is outside of the transfer window and have asked that he not be allowed to play until January.

Joan Laporta believes that the case is being brought in a bid to disrupt the club's aim to regain the league title they won last season and has labelled the appeal as baseless.