Disputed interpretation: Barcelona paid for the entire treatment.
Unsupported claim audit: Steroids or doping helped Messi.
Growth-hormone deficiency diagnosed; first consultation with Dr Diego Schwarzstein, January 1997
Acindar's obra social paid for the growth-hormone treatment initially
FC Barcelona's assumption of the treatment cost — the undertaking is confirmed, its scope is disputed
Retrospective, interview-based; corrected in the Phase 1 contemporaneity audit from contemporaneous to retrospective. Source of the reported six-to-eight-month continuation of treatment in Barcelona and of the approximately 20 per cent estimate of the club's share given in 2026. Marked NOT independent: common-source with the other treating-physician accounts.