Barcelona Twitter account hacked by supports of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad

The group criticised the La Liga club's links with Qatar

Barcelona's Twitter account last night (TWITTER)

After Barcelona's 2-0 Champions League victory over Manchester City last night, the club's official Twitter accounts were hacked by activists claiming to be the 'Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)', a collection of computer hackers who support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The messages posted by the notorious hackers criticised the club's links with Qatar - a nation in the same Arabic region as Syria, who are in the midst of civil war. Barca are currently sponsored by Qatar Airways.

The recurring post tweeted read: "Dear FC Barcelona management, don't let the Qatari money funds you, it's full of blood and kill" and contained a link to the page of the Syrian Electronic Army.

The message stayed on their three Twitter feeds (in English, Catalan and Castilian) for a full 20 minutes before it was deleted. The cunning hacker then had the final say by leaving the message: "Special hi to Real Madrid".

Past victims of the SEA have included The Guardian, ITV, The Telegraph, the Washington Post, Viber, Skype, PayPal, Thomson Reuters, CNN and most recently Forbes.