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SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE BACK BARCA
Messi - is set to play at the Olympics
The Spanish football league have backed Barcelona in their bid to prevent Lionel Messi from playing for Argentina at the Olympics.
The Catalan club do not want the forward to travel to Beijing for next month's Games as that would rule him out of the preliminary rounds of the Champions League.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter reiterated on Wednesday it is "mandatory" for clubs to release players aged 23 and under for Olympic duty, but the Spanish football league (LFP) have disputed the claim.
In a letter to Barcelona the LFP informed the club that, unlike the women's Olympic football tournament, the men's tournament did not form part of FIFA's official calendar and therefore clubs were not obliged to release players.
The letter continued: "The rules of the Olympic football tournaments, approved in the month of January 2007, by FIFA's Executive Committee for the Games of the Olympiad XXIX, also do not impose any obligation for the release of players."
Messi is currently in Scotland with the rest of the Barcelona squad as part of their pre-season preparations, but continues to find himself in the centre of an ongoing tug-of-war between his club and the Argentinian Football Association.
Blatter had attempted to bring the furore over Messi - and players involved in similar battles - to an end by reiterating FIFA's stance.
However, the issue has become even more muddied as the European Club Association (ECA) followed the LFP by wading into the club versus country row.
The recently-formed ECA, a body recognised by UEFA as representing Europe's top clubs, insist there is no legal obligation on club's to release players.
"As the Olympic Games are not included in the international calendar, the obligation to release players for national team matches in accordance with the FIFA rules don't apply," read a statement from ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
"Therefore, I support all those clubs who are currently at odds with the idea of losing important players."
Messi is by no means the only player to have sparked a club-versus-country row.
On Tuesday, Werder Bremen's Brazilian playmaker Diego held talks with the club over his desire to play in China, and ultimately left to join up with his team-mates without reaching an agreement, describing it as "one of the most difficult" decisions of his career.
On Monday, Schalke defender Rafinha failed to show for the club's training camp and said he was travelling to Brazil's meeting point in Paris.
The German Football League has already backed the claims of both clubs against their players taking part.
They claim to have received word from football's world governing body that clubs will not be punished for preventing their players from travelling.
