Defender Gerard Pique on BarçaGate: I believed Bartomeu's explanation

Barcelona captain Gerard Pique says he believed the explanation offered by president Josep Maria Bartomeu in a meeting with the club's four captains last week. 

Pique was one of the people smeared by various social media accounts associated to I3 Ventures, a company that had a working relationship with Barça. 

Bartomeu says the club were unaware of the posts and said the same in a meeting with top-ranking players last week. Pique says he's happy to turn the page.

"I don’t know if I was annoyed that my name appeared on those social media accounts," the defender said. 

"I don’t really care. I believed the president’s explanation, at least that he didn’t know, he was really affected by it in the meeting with us. I respect his explanation.

"Social media is uncontrollable. Now let’s turn the page. It's all come out and it's been resolved. Anything that's not to do with football damages us."

Pique added: "We are focused on what we can control, which is football. In recent years, what has happened on the pitch has been very important for this club. Results have always sustained the club.

“Everything else is a lot of noise and when a club like Barca goes through moments of weakness, it leaves the players less protected. So we know the responsibility we have. If the team works, if the results are good, we know the financial results or whatever else is going on at the club won’t matter. What people want is to see Barca win and that's in our hands.”

Asked if he thought the Catalan club were well run, he deferred to the club's members, the socios. 

"I won't get involved in if club well managed or not," he  said. "I don't have the information to know. That's up to the members to decide when there are elections, but if the club loses, there's more noise.

"The results are the primordial in a club like Barca. People want Barca to win and that is in our hands. We want to play well and win games. Winning breeds calm. As does playing well."