Barcelona players Gerard Pique and Antoine Griezmann involved in heated exchange during PSG game
Barcelona faced yet another humiliating Round-of-16 defeat in the Champions League when they squared off against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.
Kylian Mbappe was the star of the show as he inspired PSG to a 4-1 victory at the Camp Nou. The 22-year-old scored a brilliant hat-trick to give his side a huge advantage going into the second leg of the tie.
With no fans present inside the Camp Nou, the pitch-side microphones were able to pick up a heated exchange between Barcelona stars Antoine Griezmann and Gerard Pique shortly before halftime, with the latter expressing his frustration with his teammates.
Paris Saint-Germain, who were controlling proceedings at the time, won a corner, and veteran Barcelona defender Gerard Pique lashed out because of his team’s inability to keep possession.
"Not one f***ing long spell of possession, for f***s sake. F***ing hell! Come on!" Pique can be heard saying.
“Easy,” Griezmann responded.
“F***’s sake,” Pique shouted back at the forward. “Not one decent spell of possession!"
"That's enough Geri, easy," said Griezmann
However, this seemed to infuriate the already frustrated defender, who screamed:
“F***’s sake Grizi, f***ing hell!"
Griezmann, who now appeared to be fed up with Pique’s outburst, told the defender to “f*** off”.
Pique shouted back: “No, you f*** off yourself," before adding, “We're suffering, we've been like this for five minutes!”
Kylian Mbappe puts Barcelona to the sword at Camp Nou
In a colossal performance, Kylian Mbappe once again showed his pedigree in the game as he singlehandedly tore Barcelona apart.
After PSG went down 1-0 via a Lionel Messi penalty, the Frenchman restored parity in the 32nd minute after some brilliant footwork in the Barcelona box before lashing a shot past Ter Stegen.
Mbappe’s second goal of the night came just after the hour mark. The Frenchman reacted quickest to a poor clearance from Gerard Pique before scoring from a first-time shot to complete the comeback for the Parisians.
The PSG ace completed his hat-trick in the 70th minute through another counter. Julian Draxler glided into the Barcelona box and played the ball into Mbappe's path for him to fire home his third goal of the night.
Barcelona are unlikely to overturn this deficit in the return leg. Even manager Ronald Koeman believes his side are out of the competition.
Following the defeat, he said: "You always have to play another game but 1-4 is very difficult. I could lie, but losing 4-1 at home, there's hardly any chance of getting through.”