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09th Jul 2016

People are mocking Barcelona’s #WeAreAllLeoMessi Twitter campaign

It's a very Messi situation

Tom Victor

If you’ve been distracted by other news this week (and boy, has there been a lot of other news), you may have missed the latest developments in Lionel Messi’s tax fraud case.

The Barcelona forward was handed a 21-month prison sentence for his crime, but just like club and international team-mate Javier Mascherano, but is unlikely to serve any jail time.

So, if you were Barcelona, how would you respond? The obvious answer would be to issue a statement and move on, so as not to draw too much attention to it.

A little lower down that list of suggested responses (in fact, probably towards the bottom), is devising a hashtag campaign to express solidarity with a player who, let’s not forget, *has been handed a prison sentence for tax fraud*.

‘By making it clear that #WeAreAllMessi, we want Leo to know that he is not alone. All members, supporters clubs, fans, athletes, media and everyone else are invited to participate,’ the club has said in a statement accompanying the campaign.

While some Barcelona supporters have used the #WeAreAllLeoMessi hashtag to express their support for the Argentine, fans of other clubs have been somewhat less forgiving.

There are just some of the responses…

https://twitter.com/clonmacart/status/751807511104225281

https://twitter.com/kevinmccauley/status/751807271085150208

https://twitter.com/tomEurosport/status/751805394767450112