Wednesday 24 February 2016 11:56, UK
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has denied claims Gerard Pique earned a deliberate yellow card at Arsenal on Tuesday night, in order to be available for a potential Champions League quarter-final tie.
Lionel Messi's second-half double ensured the La Liga leaders take a healthy lead back to the Nou Camp ahead of the second leg on March 16.
Pique picked up a booking in the closing stages of the game following a late challenge on Danny Welbeck and will now miss the second leg, but will have a clean record if they reach the last eight.
Following questions in his press conference, Enrique dismissed suggestions the booking to his central defender was in any way ordered or tactical.
"I don't know if you saw the incident," said the Barca boss, "but it wasn't a deliberate [yellow] card in the slightest. If you have seen the fault, you can see that he has to do that fault."
Enrique thinks the tie is far from over, despite Arsene Wenger insisting Barcelona were 95 per cent through to the quarter-finals.
"Arsenal is one of the best clubs in the world when it comes to transitions," Enrique said.
"My players individually performed perfectly. We are the winners of this game, we deserved it.
"The score is really good but there is nothing decided yet. We will have to perform very well in front of our crowd in the second leg."
Arsenal did not allow Barcelona any shots on target in the first half and the Gunners created few openings of their own in what was a frustrating opening 45 minutes for the visitors.
But Enrique praised his team's patient first-half performance, claiming it set up their victory in north London.
"Everyone who knows about football knows you need a first half like this in order to have a second like the one we had," Enrique said.
"Arsenal is very good at helping each other collectively and we needed a lot of possession of the ball."
