Pinto dismisses Alaves injury

Barcelona’s Jose Pinto has played down an incident in which he was struck in the head by a missile thrown from the Alaves crowd on Tuesday.

Tito Vilanova’s Barcelona side emerged 3-0 winners from the Copa del Rey encounter at Estadio de Mendizorroza, but in the 51st minute home fans started throwing a range of objects at the visitors, causing an injury to goalkeeper Pinto.

“Yes, I was struck by an object from the stands,” he told reporters after the game.

“I did bleed a little, from my head, but I don’t want to pay it any more attention. The criminal does not deserve any importance.”

The 36-year-old did not need treatment and resumed play shortly after the incident, with goals from David Villa, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas the perfect response for the visitors.

The Camp Nou club are next in action on Saturday when they take on Celta Vigo in La Liga.