Football: Barcelona president Bartomeu rejects Pique criticism

The under-fire Barca president rejects claims the club was waging a campaign against its own players. Bartomeu: “In the case of [Gerard] Pique we love him very much. He’s a historical player and person. But that’s right that a few days ago he said he was not happy because the club used money to criticise them on social networks. I already told Pique that this is not true. There is an audit made by PricewaterhouseCoopers that says clearly Barcelona never used and did not spend any money on social networks criticising players. "I have to accept his comments but those comments are not true. I don’t say it, this is PricewaterhouseCoopers who are saying this to Gerard Pique. Gerard Pique’s our captain and I’m very happy because a few days ago he renewed his contract with Barcelona. He helped us very much, reducing and adapting his salary to the new revenue, the new income of the club for the next coming years. I’m happy with him because he’s helping the club as we are doing, all of us. We are here to help the club."