Staff Reporter
BARCELONA superstar Lionel Messi has donated €72,000 he won in damages to charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Messi was awarded the money after winning a libel case against Spanish newspaper La Razón.
Spain’s Supreme Court agreed with a Barcelona court’s ruling that the criticism against the forward had been ‘unnecessary and impertinent’ in an article published after Argentina’s World Cup final defeat to Germany in 2014.
Journalist Alfonso Ussia, who wrote the article, went beyond just criticising the player saying Messi wore a wig and had used the performance-enhancing drug Nandrolone.
The court ruled that the editor Francisco Marhuenda and Ussia were irresponsible, ordering them to pay the striker €72,783.20.
Messi’s management company, Leo Messi Management, insisted that he will ‘continue defending himself against insulting or false statements and accusations that attack his honour’.
Doctors Without Borders delivers emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care.
