Gerard Pique Plays Down Injury, Says Barcelona 'Dressing Room Is Fully United'

Gerard Pique has said the injury that forced him off during Barcelona's Copa del Rey defeat to Athletic Bilbao on Thursday is not serious. 

The centre-back had to be replaced by Samuel Umtiti in the 80th minute at San Mames before Sergio Busquets' stoppage-time own goal sent Barca out of the Copa along with Real Madrid:

Pique made assurances after the 1-0 loss that he has not suffered a major injury, per Marca: "It's an overload. It doesn't seem to be anything serious."

Barca already have a number of key players sidelined through injury, including Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele, so Pique's prognosis will come as a big relief to beleaguered manager Quique Setien.

As will the fact that his squad appear prepared to move on from the recent controversy surrounding Lionel Messi and club sporting director Eric Abidal.

Messi sent Barca into crisis on Tuesday after issuing a response to Abidal's comments about the departure of Setien's predecessor, Ernesto Valverde:

Per Moises Llorens and Sam Marsden of ESPN FC, Messi is ready to put the incident behind him.

And Pique said after Thursday's match that the squad are united, per John Skilbeck of Goal:

"It's not time to air the dirty washing. The dressing room is fully united. Elimination is a big blow but we said in the dressing room that we've taken a step forward and played well, despite all the noise that's been generated."

Barcelona's form has been erratic recently, but they were unfortunate to be knocked out by Athletic after a decent performance:

If there were any positives to the result, one is that they did not have to play extra time before visiting Real Betis in La Liga on Sunday.

Barca could be six points behind league-leading Real Madrid by the time they step out at the Estadio Benito Villamarin because Los Blancos play Osasuna earlier in the day.

The Blaugrana have won 4-1 and 5-0 at Betis in the past two seasons, which should give them confidence heading into the game.