Barcelona announced on Monday a record income of €708 million ($812.8m) for 2016/2017 with an after-tax profit of €18m.

The Spanish giants said the healthy revenue was up €13m on the forecast figure in their budget for the period.

A statement following the approval of the accounts at a board meeting disclosed the club has reduced its debt by €24.5m to €247m.

The salaries of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar and co account for 66% of Barcelona’s expenditure, the statement added.

Barca say that the financial results fit into the club’s strategic plan for revenue to top €1 billion by 2021.

The Catalan side are ranked the fourth most valuable sports team in the world after the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and Manchester United by Forbes magazine.

Last season Barcelona relinquished their Spanish title to Real Madrid and were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Juventus who went on to lose to Barca’s arch-rivals Real in the final in Cardiff.