Lionel Messi says Gerard Pique’s goal against PSV wasn’t planned

Lionel Messi spoke about Gerard Pique’s goal against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night and admitted it was not planned.

The defender deflected a Messi free-kick to make it 2-0 and joked after the game “we practice it a lot and it came off perfectly.”

However, Messi sought to set the record straight after the match and also spoke about his delight at topping the group.

“The free kick didn’t come off but Gerard was in the area and he saw it and fortunately it went in but it was not something we had planned,” he said.

“We have achieved our objective of finishing top of a difficult group. We are really happy, it has been a tight group with tough away trips.

“The most important thing was to win and finish first and we have done that with a game to spare so job done.”

Source | FC Barcelona

Barcelona’s win means they have topped their group for the 12th season in a row and will be seeded for the knockout draw. The only other two confirmed group winners so far are Porto and Real Madrid.