Barcelona Distance Themselves From Dani Alves

Barcelona have distanced themselves from a statement issued by Dani Alves in which he criticized the Spanish press calling them f****** rubbish.

Alves took to Instagram on Friday morning to write: “Every day that passes I am more ashamed to form part of this sport and how they use us. I used to think that you could go out and defend the shirt and if you won or lost you would go home to either reflect on how badly or how well you had played. Now we are objects used by the press so that they can sell newspapers. Every day that passes we talk less about football, tactics, moves, pieces of skill, goals and the spectacle. What f****** rubbish they are”.

A small sector of the Sports media in Spain dedicates itself to an intensive focus on controversy at the country's biggest two clubs and Alves has been vocal in his condemnation of that, refusing to answer questions from certain newspapers in his most recent press conferences but his latest outburst stunned Barça officials who saw fit to draw a line in the sand. Alves has been equally outspoken about the club in the past and is unlikely to be happy at the public posture they have adopted against. The club are understood to have requested that he retract the remarks but he is yet to do so. The club's response concluded: ‘Beyond the total freedom that any player has to express his opinions, FC Barcelona wishes to clarify that we do not accept or share the offensive expressions that have been published.’