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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Ben Hayward

Barcelona star Gerard Pique only sees Lionel Messi 'in the car park' following training return

Gerard Pique says he has only seen Lionel Messi in the car park since Barcelona returned to training on Friday.

The LaLiga leaders resumed activities ahead of the weekend after coronavirus testing, bringing an end to 56 days of inactivity due to Covid-19, but players have had to respect social distancing on their return to work.

"We have had very little contact because we are training on different pitches," Pique told Movistar. "We don't even cross paths. With Leo, we speak about other things and on our mobiles, we are still in contact, but I haven't even seen him train.

"I have a group, with Sergi Roberto and [Sergio] Busquets and we are on a pitch just for us three. We rotate. With Leo, we see each other in the car park and I see him inside his car. We haven't had contact."

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has unveiled plans to restart the competition on June 12, but Pique said: "We have been halted for a long time. A few more days training wouldn't do any harm."

And asked about playing behind closed doors, he said: "We don't like playing without fans, but it's that or not finish LaLiga and that would be bad, even though we are leaders."

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