Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has cancelled his trip to Turkey this weekend to play in Samuel Eto’o‘s charity game following the coup attempt in Ankara and Istanbul.
Messi was scheduled to fly in on Saturday ahead of a charity football match organised by his former Barcelona teammate Eto’o in Antalya.
However, Messi – who is currently on holiday in Ibiza with his family – has pulled out of the fixture after an attempted military coup in Turkey.
Barcelona released a statement on Friday night confirming that a number of their players who were in Turkey were not involved in the trouble as they were far away from the affected areas.
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However, Messi and Andres Iniesta – who were yet to fly out – have reportedly decided to pull out of the fixture.
Turkey’s Friday night was marred by explosions, gunfire and tanks occupying the streets after the military attempted to take over various cities.
However, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed in the early hours of Saturday that the attempted military coup was over and that the government was back in charge.
Barcelona have various connections with Turkey, with one of the main ones being their sponsorship with Turkish Airlines – the famous Messi and Kobe Bryant advert proving to be a big hit with fans.
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