With FIFA yet to punish Barcelona for refusing to release Lionel Messi for Argentina's Olympic squad, the blaugrana are confident that they are in the right...

Spanish sports daily Marca claims that two days into Barça's training camp in Saint Andrews FIFA have yet to be in touch with the Catalan club over Messi, vindicating their decision to take him to Scotland.

Barça drew criticism from some quarters after rejecting the call from Argentina for the forward, who, at the age of 21, would be seen by most as a key member of the largely U-23 Olympic side.

The blaugrana thesis is that the Olympic Games are not a full FIFA tournament and thus they are not obliged to release any player for any reason.

Barça, however, may be willing to offer a compromise wherein a good result in the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers would see Messi excused from the second leg and able to travel to Beijing.

The AFA are said to be unhappy with this offer but it may be the best that they receive.

Source: Goal

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