Louis van Gaal pushed Pique and told him he was not 'strong enough' to play for Barcelona

Barcelona centre back Gerard Pique revealed he was once told by Louis van Gaal that he was not ‘strong enough’ to play for the Catalan giants. 

Pique was part of Barcelona’s youth team when Van Gaal was first team manager and the Dutchman pushed him to the floor and told him he would never make it to the club's first team. 

Pique left Barcelona in 2004 and joined Manchester United where he stayed for four years before returning to Spain. 

Pique told TV3: ‘You never knew if he would be the first-team coach when you got there. He pushed me, he threw me to the floor. He told me I wasn’t strong enough to be a Barcelona player. 

‘He destroyed me. At Barcelona we didn’t do gym work until the age of 18. That was really hard.’