La Liga stars' ways to unwind

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and others light up the football pitch with their brilliance. But what do they do away from it? Let's find out...

Barcelona star Lionel Messi not only features in many football video games, he also regularly plays them himself. Messi has told interviewers he likes to relax by gaming with friends, and has even gone online anonymously to challenge strangers over the internet. He has also been seen playing a Barca v Real Madrid 'Clasico' against his five year old son Thiago.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo is an avid collector of expensive sports cars, with the garage at his house outside the Spanish capital home to a Lamborghini Aventador, Rolls-Royce Ghost, McLaren MP4-12C Spider, Ferrari F12, and two Bugattis - a Chiron and Veyron. Ronaldo also likes to share his hobby with his family, having bought his mother a silver Porsche Boxster as a Christmas present a few years back.

Atletico Madrid attacker Antoine Griezmann is a keen horse-racing fan, and part-owner of a prize-winning thoroughbred. Griezmann inherited his passion for the ‘sport of kings’ from his father, and regularly updates his fans via social media of the progress of his stable.

Gareth Bale is an excellent golfer with a handicap of just six, and close friend of 2017 US Masters winner and lifelong Madrid fan Sergio Garcia. The Wales international even recently hired a professional company to recreate three of golf’s most famous holes - full size - in the back garden of his family home.

Gerard Pique likes to relax by playing cards during his free time; the Catalan centre-back has compared the risks involved in high-stakes poker to the challenge of keeping out LaLiga’s top forwards on the pitch. The Spain international is a serious player who has competed in professional tournaments.

More active is the pastime preferred by Athletic Bilbao centre-forward Aritz Aduriz, an all-rounder who in his youth excelled at other sports including cross-country skiing and snowboarding. Surfing is now his second love [after] football of course], having learned to ride the waves as a teenager on Bilbao’s La Zurriola beach.

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Barcelona star Lionel Messi not only features in many football video games, he also regularly plays them himself. Messi has told interviewers he likes to relax by gaming with friends, and has even gone online anonymously to challenge strangers over the internet. He has also been seen playing a Barca v Real Madrid 'Clasico' against his five year old son Thiago.