All the professional players at Barcelona, including Lionel Messi, and the non-playing staff will face compulsory salary reduction, informed the Catalan giants on Thursday.

The step has been taken to reduce the financial stress the club is enduring due to the lockdown caused by the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

“Faced with this scenario, the Board of Directors has decided to implement a series of measures to mitigate its effects and reduce the economic effects of this crisis,” a statement on the official website of Barcelona said.

“Among the measures adopted, it’s worth noting those related to the workplace are motivated by the need to adapt the contractual obligations of the club staff to the new and temporary circumstances that we are experiencing. It is about the presentation of the different relative files in the sporting field (football and other professional sports), as well as for the rest of the non-sporting personnel.

“Basically it is a reduction of the working day, imposed by the circumstances and the protection measures carried out, and, as a consequence, the proportional reduction of the remuneration provided for in the respective contracts,” the statement added.

After Italy, Spain has been the worst-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic. With more than 57,700 people affected and over 4,300 dead, Spain has surpassed China, the actual epicenter of the virus, in terms of fatalities.

The country has been put into complete lockdown from March 15 for 14 days which can be extended further this weekend. The citizens are allowed to venture out of their homes only for essential services.

Meanwhile, other than reducing the wages of the staff, Barcelona has decided to make available the club facilities, both sporting and annexes, to the Health Department to combat the deadly coronavirus.

“The Barça Innovation Hub makes itself available to research centres such as the Hospital Clínic, the Hospital Trias i Pujol and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, among others, to offer their collaboration and coordination in research actions related to the impact of the coronavirus on sporting practice,” the statement said.