Stats: Gerard Pique pays the most fines at Barcelona
Barcelona have achieved massive success under Luis Enrique, who won a treble in his very first season. He is also the man responsible for the formation of the infamous MSN trio. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar have come to be feared as the most potent strikeforce in the world
But If you think it’s easy being part of the best team in the world think again. Luis Enrique runs a pretty tight ship at Barcelona and has enforced some hard rules that players have to follow ever since he arrived at the club.
Cares Naval is the delegate for Barcelona’s first team and he handles the fines and administrative work for Luis Enrique. He recently revealed to Catalunya Radio some of the rules and regulations that the manager has set for his players and the consequences they will have to suffer if they fail to follow them.
The manager is very particular on discipline and especially the punctuality of his players. He has set a fine amount for different scenarios of lateness shown by the players and the severity of those fines gets worse each time a player repeats his mistake.
Media outlet SPORT shed light on the matter and have revealed the player who has paid the most in fines this season
The scales for player fines at the club
To start off let’s take a look at the system in place. The team follows two different sets of rules, one for being late for training and the other for being late on match days. In the case of training, the first time a player arrives late for training he is fined €200.
But it gets worse after that. Each time he repeats the offense the amount is doubled. So the second time the player will have to pay €400 and the third time it becomes €800.
Arriving late for a matchday is considered a much more serious matter and undoubtedly the fines are also much higher. The first time a player arrives late it is €400 but the second time it increases by a multiple of four which means a fine of €1600 .
So who is the most punctual and who isn't?
The fines given by each player is not kept a secret in the team and in fact, is displayed on a board in the dressing room. At the top of the list by some distance, is one of Barcelona’s most outspoken players Gerard Pique who’s amount stands at €6400.
He is followed by Neymar who has paid €1200. The next two on the list are Adriano at €1000 and new arrival Arda Turan at €600. Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez on the other hand, have never been fined even once, always coming on time to the training sessions.
Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets are also never late to training sessions all leading by example. All of the amount received from the fines are donated to a charity and the organisation has to be picked by the captain of the side. This tradition has been in place at the club since 2010.