Lionel Messi is the latest high-profile target of climate change activists after his £9.5 million luxury property was vandalised.
Activists from the Futuro Vegetal organization are reported to have entered the Argentina icon’s Ibiza property on Tuesday and thrown red and black paint on the façade.
The Spanish group also unfurled a banner that read ‘Help the Planet – Eat the Rich – Abolish the Police’ and took responsibility for the attack, criticising Spain’s environmental policies “that aggravate the climate crisis, as well as the unequal responsibility for it.”
The former Barcelona and PSG player has visited the Balearic Island several times with his wife Antonella Roccuzzo and their three children.
In 2022, he paid £9.5 million to Swiss billionaire Philippe Amon for the San Josep house, which is located in Cala Tarida on Ibiza’s western coast.
Messi also owns Hotel Es Vive, a magnificent 52-room hotel on Figueretas Beach, which he purchased in 2018.
Futuro Vegetal, an activist group that links tourism and overpopulation to climate change, claims that the 37-year-old’s home was targeted due to being “an illegal construction” that the footballer “acquired for the exorbitant sum of 11 million euros.”
“This is just another example of how the law does not work the same for everyone,” Futuro Vegetal spokesperson Bilbo Bassaterra said.
“This week on the island [of Ibiza], almost 200 workers were evicted from a settlement with no housing solution, while the Popular Party, hand in hand with Vox, is planning the legalisation of illegal buildings in exchange for payment.”
Messi has taken a prolonged break from club football after helping Argentina retain the Copa America championship in the United States. He has yet to officially reply to the attack.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is also rehabilitating from an ankle injury sustained in the tournament’s final, and no official comeback date has been given.