Barcelona pair Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique broke up for international week at loggerheads, it has been revealed.

Pique's demand that Barca not play Sunday's clash with Las Palmas after the referendum chaos in the morning has left lingering tension inside the locker room.

Don Balon says Messi, along with senior players Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, resented Pique forcing them to choose whether to play or not. And for his part, Pique's emotional post-game interview was partly due to feeling let down by the lack of support he'd received.

The tension now, says insiders, is the worst they've seen amongst the players since the Frank Rijkaard era, with Messi and Pique's relationship at the heart of the friction.

"They don't speak," said one La Masia source.