Old Messi tweets come back to haunt new Barcelona recruit Junior Firpo

New Barcelona signing Junior Firpo has very quickly been quizzed about disparaging tweets he sent out about Lionel Messi in 2012. 

Just 15 at the time, Firpo has admitted to saying "ugly things" about the Argentine star on the social media platform but believes Messi isn't too worried about it. 

Firpo tweeted at the time that he could "probably break both of Lionel Messi's legs" with "one kick" and called the Argentine a "son of a b**ch" among other things.

Since signing from Real Betis for €18 million (£16.3m/$20m) , Firpo, now 23, regularly crosses paths with Messi and stressed there's no bad blood between them.

"I see him every day in the changing room," Firpo told SPORT .

"I know you're asking this because of the old tweets I made but that's in the past and we've squashed that. It isn't something I want to make a bigger deal out of.

"I don't think he even knew. I was a kid who came through the academy at Betis and I don't think Messi is going to care about that."

Firpo, who was born in the Dominican Republic before moving to Spain as a child, has vowed to continue using Twitter despite his past coming back to haunt him to some degree at Camp Nou. 

The left-back has declared that the old tweets were done without proper foresight and happily apologised. 

“It's something that doesn't matter and that I can explain without problem," Firpo told  Mundo Deportivo . 

"They are things that are done at 15 when nobody knows you and when you cannot think that this will have an impact years later.

"I have to apologise and I do it humbly and without problems." 

Left on the bench for Barcelona's La Liga opener against Athletic Bilbao last weekend, Firpo will be hoping to make his competitive debut for the club against Betis on Sunday. 

It will be a match of extra significance for the defender, considering he began his professional career with Real Betis in 2015. 

Firpo made 24 La Liga appearances for the club last season with his three goals and strong defensive displays enough to catch the Catalans' eye. 

Incidentally, Messi is also in line for his first match of the season after overcoming an injury that kept him out of Barcelona's 1-0 loss to Athletic.