Pape Diop: 'I did not threaten Barcelona players'

Espanyol midfielder Pape Diop has claimed that he was misquoted during an interview that he gave moments after his team lost to Barcelona in the first leg of their last-16 clash in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

Diop was one of two Espanyol players sent off during his team's 4-1 defeat at Camp Nou, with Hernan Perez also seeing red in the second period of what was an ill-tempered clash.

The midfielder is believed to have insulted Luis Suarez's mother in earshot of the referee, which brought about his dismissal.

After the match, Diop was quoted as telling reporters: "If we wanted to, the Barca players would have gone off on stretchers." However, the 29-year-old has insisted that was simply not the case, claiming that "at no time" did he send out that threatening message.

"At no time did I say that and I'd like it if things I actually said is what gets put into articles, Just changing a few letters can change the meaning of a phrase," Diop told Espanyol's official website. "It's possible that I wasn't understood in terms of language, but never, at any moment, have I wanted to talk about violence or threatening anyone.

"I wish the interview could have been recorded and you could see what I said. I insist that we're not a violent team - if we had been yesterday there would have been ugly fouls or injuries or people leaving on stretchers. That's what I wanted to say."

The second leg between the two Catalan rivals will take place next week.