Piqué: "Vinicius told me a deal was in place for him to join Barça"

Ibai Llanos and Gerard Piqué spent over an hour discussing various topics on Twitch. Among them, the Barcelona centre-back was asked about an incident which involved a series of exchanges with Álvaro Arbeloa a few years ago.

"We were never friends, we were acquaintances but not friends. Are you trying to make me say that I was friends with someone when I wasn't?" Piqué asked. "Everyone understood what I was saying, there's no need to analyse the word (conocido, in Spanish is someone who you know, but not very well or as a friend).

Piqué also chatted about other issues regarding Barcelona, Real Madrid and also looked back at his time at Manchester United.

A new sports event lined up: "Florentino called me and said he will let me use the new Bernabéu for free, we'll be doing it in Madrid"

Penalty against Valencia: "And all of those penalties given at the Bernabéu... People who know about playing football know that it was a penalty in 100% of cases. That penalty would be given at the Bernabéu without any doubt. Do you remember Juanfran with Osasuna? Two fouls inside the box, two clear penalties and he was given two yellow cards and sent off! Poor Juanfran was brought down twice and got sent off for simulation. I'm not criticising, I find it funny".

Refereeing: "Barça-Madrid for the pressure, for being the clubs they are... We get more decisions in our favour than the other clubs. Atlético is in that group too. They are the teams competing with each other to win LaLiga. You can't compare them with Alavés, Osasuna, Espanyol and other clubs who are not battling to win LaLiga. Tou are competing against Madrid and all I ask for is equality. I would like equality right across the board but I know how difficult that is. I know how difficult a referee's job is. Of course I can't complain about other clubs but I can about Madrid or Atlético. I'll never moan about refereeing, never - especially in Spain where people enjoy controversy. If there was a World Cup for marbles there would be problems, that's the way it is..."

Vinicius almost signed for Barcelona: "Vinicius had a lot of talent. Did you know that he was very close to joining Barça? They offered Vinicius double what Madrid had offered. I spoke to him personally before he joined Madrid and during that phone call, he admitted that a deal was practically done with Barça. I can't remember the details exactly. It was about introducing him to the lads. The deal was already done. He joined Madrid right at the last minute, they offered him everything"

Chances of returning to the national team: "I haven't thought about going back. Now, I use the international breaks to do other things... We need to talk to FIFA about having more international breaks. When I retired from international football I was already thinking about the Balloon World Cup".

Going out on the town after losing a game: "If you lose or have a bad day, you don't throw a party the following day, but people need to understand that we have lives to lead just like they do. We try to do the best we possibly can and sometimes it just doesn't work out".

A player who went out partying after the 2-6 win at the Bernabéu: "There's a great anecdote about a Madrid player who went out after that 2-6 defeat but I can't tell you who it was. One Madrid player went out partying that night, and bumped into a Barça player..."

El Clásico: "El Clásico is special. It takes over the whole day. The country comes to a standstill. There is no better feeling that having 90,000 people back in the stands. Playing the Clásico behind closed doors was sad. On Sunday, there won't be any restrictions and we can play in front of all the fans... This season, the fans are behind us more than ever. When they are with us, it makes us feel unstoppable. Now we need them more than ever. It's a real pleasure to have them back and especially for a game like this. First, we have to make sure we beat Dinamo. Our situation in the Champions League is looking a bit delicate. It might seem like the kind of game that you would expect to win. But they gave us problems before. I'm sure they'll give us a tough game on Wednesday..."

Dressing room banter: "The atmosphere in our dressing room is amazing. Between the older players and the younger ones, we all really get along well. There's a lot of banter and jokes - the younger players usually bear the brunt of it but Jordi Alba always seems to be involved. I'm usually in there too. Then there are some who you wouldn't expect, like Lenglet. The level of joking has gone down quite a bit. At United, the banter was incredible, it was like a show. Rooney, Evra, Ferdinand... It's a bit tame nowadays. You might let someone's tyre down or cut up th legs on someone's trousers. What I really enjoyed was the English black humour, which was brutal. If we could chat for 24 hours, I'd tell you all about it".