Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu and entire board step down

Josep Bartomeu has resigned as the Barcelona president, with the entire board stepping down from their respective posts.  Bartomeu has finally stepped down after a six-year stay with Barcelona as his position was under scrutiny for some months. The 57-year-old has been heavily slammed with a looming vote of no confidence since the Catalans suffered a humiliating 8-2 loss to Juventus in the Champions League. This was followed by Lionel Messi's shock request to leave the club that led to a number of supporters demonstrating outside the club's offices. "President Josep Maria Bartomeu announces the resignation of the FC Barcelona Board of Directors," a short statement on Barcelona's Twitter account read. The Spaniard was accused of corruption last month by the Catalan police but he denied the allegations. Earlier in the week, Bartomeu appeared to be confident over his future at Nou Camp insisting the club is keen to win another title soon. "Our priority was keeping Messi as part of our new project so I decided against starting a discussion," he said. A total of 20,687 votes were gathered for the motion against Bartomeu, passing the threshold of 16,250 signatures required for the vote to go ahead.