Chelsea ace Pedro insists he didn't seek to insult former Barcelona teammate Gerard Pique this week.

Pedro forgot to mention Pique when discussing Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos as the two best centre-halves in the world.

And the Spaniard sought to clarify his comments yesterday: "If you ask me who is the best, if I have to choose one, I stay with Piqué, because I think he is the best active defender right now.

"The best central I have played with and the one I have always liked the most is (Carles) Puyol."

Pedro added: "For the question, they asked me about what differences I found between them, I defined the two players by their characteristics, noting that both are in good shape."