COVID-19: Lionel Messi donates 1m euros to Barcelona hospital

Barcelona, March 25 (IANS) Argentina football great Lionel Messi has donated one million euros to a hospital in Barcelona to help combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

According to a report in goal.com, Messi made the donation to Hospital Clinic, a public hospital in Barcelona with the hospital confirming about the same on their official Twitter handle.

Messi's former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has also given one million euros towards the purchase and production of medical supplies and equipment with another Barcelona-based campaign.

Star Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and agent Jorge Mendes have also donated one million euros to fund intensive care units in hospitals in Lisbon and Porto.

Messi has been picked by FIFA along with 28 past and present football icons to spread an awareness campaign to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

FIFA and the World Health Organization (WHO) have teamed up to combat the coronavirus (COVID -19) by launching a new awareness campaign as football calls on all people around the world to follow five key steps to stop the spread of the disease.

"FIFA and its President Gianni Infantino have been actively involved in passing the message against this pandemic since the very beginning," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the virtual launch of the campaign at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Be it through campaigns or funding, FIFA has stood up to the coronavirus, and I am delighted that world football is supporting WHO to kick out the coronavirus. I have no doubt with this type of support that together we will win," he said in a FIFA release.

The 28 players, who are involved in the video campaign to be published in 13 languages, include the likes of India captain Sunil Chhetri and World Cup winners like German Philip Lahm, Spain's Iker Casillas and Spanish defender Carles Puyol.