Lionel Messi: Barcelona sold Deco and Ronaldinho in order to protect star player, claims ex-Arsenal man Alexander Hleb

Barcelona sold Ronaldinho and Deco to protect Lionel Messi because the pair regularly turned up to training drunk, Alexander Hleb has claimed.

The duo were standout players in the Barca side by the time Messi broke through the to the first team in 2004.

But the Brazil and Portugal internationals were sold shortly after Pep Guardiola took charge of the club and oversaw extraordinary success in Catalonia.

Ex-Arsenal midfielder Hleb, 38, joined the Blaugrana from the Gunners the same year Guardiola was appointed as Frank Rijkaard’s successor and has cast some light on Ronaldinho and Deco’s antics.

“Ronaldinho and Deco came to training drunk,” he told V OKA TV . “That’s why Ronaldinho and Deco were sold in 2008. Because they were afraid that they would bring down Lionel Messi.”

Belarus international Hleb stayed at Barcelona for four years but made just 36 appearances, spending the majority of his time on loan at Stuttgart, Birmingham and Wolfsburg before leaving for Russian side Krylia Sovetov Samara in 2012.

He then went on to have three different spells at BATE Borisov in between spells in Turkey.

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But Hleb says that he was not keen on joining Barcelona in the first place and has admitted it may have been a mistake.

“Frankly, I initially did not want to go to Barcelona at all,” he added. “I wanted to go to Bayern Munich or stay at Arsenal. But the agents were telling me to go as it was Guardiola who was calling.”

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