• Champions League

Barcelona play down Messi's late-night casino visit

ESPN staff
February 24, 2015
Luis Enrique: Barcelona not favourites

Barcelona have brushed off talk of controversy after Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique visited a casino with Cesc Fabregas ahead of the Champions League clash against Manchester City.

The pair were pictured outside a casino in Barcelona late on Sunday night - just hours before they were due to fly to Manchester - along with their former team-mate Fabregas, who left the Nou Camp for Chelsea in the summer.

Coming soon after the La Liga side's 11-game winning streak ended in defeat to Malaga on Saturday, the photographs have prompted renewed talk of crisis at the Nou Camp after difficulties earlier in the season, when Messi was reported to have fallen out with head coach Luis Enrique.

"This guy must work for one of the Spanish channels!" said Enrique, when asked by an English journalist during his press conference at the Etihad Stadium if his players had broken a curfew or any club rules.

"I concentrate on football, not stuff outside it. No gossip. I am not interested."

Pique, the former Manchester United defender, also played down the visit. The 28-year-old said: "It is my private life. We just had a nice time there."

Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique trained with Barcelona at the Etihad Stadium on Monday © Getty Images
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