Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach, has emerged as the chief culprit behind the alleged tunnel bust-up that took place in the wake of Barcelona’s 3-1 defeat by Manchester City on Tuesday night.

According to reports from Spanish radio station La Cope, the former Arsenal man provoked Lionel Messi after telling him to “move along” in the tunnel, while enthusiastically congratulating the City players.

The station reported that while Messi was waiting outside the referee's room, Arteta told the Barcelona star: “Move along stupid, get yourself in your dressing room.”

Messi reacted furiously to Arteta’s barb, calling the Spaniard an “imbecile” before shouting: “Come back here, don’t hide.”

Despite the reports, Manchester City have insisted that Arteta was not to blame: “Manchester City and Mikel Arteta would like to make it clear that Mikel did nothing to provoke an incident with Lionel Messi.”

Striker Sergio Aguero similarly played down the ‘incident’.

When asked what he had seen, he said: “Nothing. I thought Messi said something to me but he didn’t, and then we talked about other stuff.”

It was “nothing serious,” the Argentine said. “I heard something but I don’t know what happened.”

Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Show all 22 1 /22 Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Willy Caballero – 6 out of 10 Couldn’t do anything about the goal but didn’t mess around with the ball when he had it and cleared his lines well. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Pablo Zabaleta – 7 out of 10 Got the crowd up for the game with his performance and watched Neymar well. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Nicolas Otamendi – 7 out of 10 Cut out all the mistakes that have marred his game in his most recent appearances. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings John Stones – 7 out of 10 Looked stretched at points when Barca attacked but did well on the whole. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Aleksandar Kolarov – 7 out of 10 Did little going forward but his main job was to deal with the threat of Messi, which is never easy. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Fernandinho – 7 out of 10 Broke from midfield well to support the attack and barely stopped running. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Raheem Sterling – 8 out of 10 City’s most dangerous player on the night. Should have scored just after half time but was a constant threat. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Kevin De Bruyne – 8 out of 10 Pretty anonymous until his stunning free-kick gave City the lead and was a constant threat in the second 45 minutes. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Ilkay Gündogan – 8 out of 10 Beautifully-timed run for both his two goals, arriving in the right place at the right time – something he is quickly making a habit of doing. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings David Silva – 8 out of 10 Passed through the lines well and won the free-kick cleverly for De Bruyne’s goal. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Sergio Agüero – 8 out of 10 Why didn’t he start at the Nou Camp? Aguero was exceptional as always and never gave Barca a moment to rest. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6 out of 10 His range of passing was inch perfect throughout but could be blamed for his positioning on De Bruyne’s free kick. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Sergi Roberto – 4 out of 10 Played a blind pass to allow City to equalise and almost repeated the mistake in the second half. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Javier Mascherano – 5 out of 10 Was stretched by City’s brilliant attack throughout the entirety of the second half. Getty Images Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Samuel Umtiti – 5 out of 10 Was lucky not to give away a penalty in the first half as Sterling was booked for diving instead. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Lucas Digne – 5 out of 10 Was given a bit of a run around by Sterling but supported Neymar well when attacking. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Ivan Rakitic – 5 out of 10 His metronomic passing was a little awry but a nuisance in his defending as he hustled City’s midfielders. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Sergio Busquets – 5 out of 10 Struggled to stem City’s attack when they broke and was taken on too easily by Aguero at times. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings André Gomes – 5 out of 10 Replaced the injured Iniesta and missed a fantastic chance to equalise when he thumped the ball against the bar. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Lionel Messi – 7 out of 10 His work for the opening goal was genius as he started and finished a sublime counter attack. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Luis Suárez – 6 out of 10 Had a number of chances throughout and should have found the net with at least one of them. Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings Neymar – 5 out of 10 Did really well for the opening goal but faded as the game went on.

Aguero stressed that his friend and compatriot Messi had clearly been “feeling bad” when he saw him at the end of the game.

“I saw him there, he was feeling bad,” the 28-year-old said. “I know him well enough to know when he’s bad, when he’s good. But when you lose, nobody’s good!”

Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho was also implicated in the altercation but insisted on Twitter that he was not involved.