Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has dismissed any controversy from a late night casino visit.

Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique were both pictured outside a casino in Barcelona late on Sunday night, hours before they were to travel to Manchester.

"This guy must work for one of the Spanish channels!" said Luis Enrique when the question was put to him by an English journalist. "I concentrate on football, not stuff outside it. No gossip. I am not interested."

Pique, the former Manchester United defender, did not deny that he had been to the casino and was not particularly flustered by mention of it.

The 28-year-old said: "It is my private life. We just had a nice time there."