Messi's dressing room row 'nothing serious'

According to Manchester City stars Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho, the “altercation” between Lionel Messi and an unnamed City player after Barcelona's 3-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday was “nothing serious”.

Seemingly confirming that it did indeed happen, the City pair came out with some pretty bizarre quotes to explain the whole furore, with Aguero in particular sounding like a sheepish schoolboy after being called in to see the headmaster.

It is not known which City player was supposedly involved in the incident, but it was claimed that Messi stormed into the home dressing room to make his feelings known about the individual in question.

“[It was] nothing serious,” Aguero said. “I heard something but I don't know what happened. I thought Messi said something to me but he didn't, and then we talked about other stuff.

“We haven't talked. Whenever you lose you're not very happy. I know him well enough to know when he's bad, when he's good. Leo wasn't in the mood to talk and I respect that,”

Fernandinho then chimes in his thoughts on the matter.

“I am totally unaware where from rumours could have emerged related to an alleged argument and provocation on my behalf towards Messi,” the Brazil international said.

“I can only reiterate that news spread by the media are not only false/untrue but absurd, as I did not have contact with any of the players or Barcelona's technical team after the match.”