Fair play to whomever sorts out the photos at the Mirror and the Telegraph because, by the looks of it, they have managed to nab pictures of Lionel Messi being taking away from a crazy night out in Manchester by two policemen. And all of this the night before a crunch Champion League tie against Man City.
"Barca stars (Gerard Pique was the other one) in late-night casino visit ahead of City clash." How could they be so stupid? Caught out in Manchester partying until the early hours and the police were involved and everything.
Only they weren't, oh, and it wasn't in Manchester either. Messi and Pique left a casino in Barcelona at 12.15 am Sunday night (or Monday morning if you want to be technical) and hopped on the plane to Manchester 11 hours later and then, factoring in the time difference, arrived in Manchester at 12.15 pm on Monday.
Now, as anyone who has been to Spain will know, 12.15 isn't exactly late night stuff and there's no mention of breaking curfew or drinking.
The Telegraph's opening paragraph is particularly entertaining stuff.
Barcelona’s preparations for the Champions League clash with Manchester City have been thrown in to turmoil with coach Luis Enrique refusing to defend Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique’s late night visit to a casino less than 48 hours before Tuesday’s game.
What in fact happened was that Enrique was asked about the casino trip at yesterday's press conference and thought it was a wind-up, asking the English journalist if he worked for a Spanish radio station who tend to try and get under Barcelona's skin.
All in all, anyone hoping for a Barca win against City tonight probably shouldn't be too worried that Messi wasn't tucked up in bed 11 hours before he was due to be on flight to Manchester, yesterday.
