Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has said that he believes president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the club were not involved in a social media campaign to criticise the players.

A report on Cadena SER claimed that the Barcelona higher-ups paid a social media consultant to post criticism of Lionel Messi, Pique and other players online.

However, the club issued a statement denying the reports and the president is said to have spoken with the players personally.

When asked whether he trusted the explanation given by Bartomeu, Pique told the press conference: "I couldn't tell you if it annoyed me. I don't care. In the end, social networks are uncontrollable. Everybody says what they like.

"The way I saw [Bartomeu], I believed that at least he didn't know because when we had the meeting, he was upset. But it's something that came out, blew up and has been resolved."

The 33-year-old was speaking ahead of Barcelona's Champions League round-of-16 tie against Napoli.