Pablo Zabaleta has recalled the time he drove Lionel Messi to the wrong house as the Barcelona star lay asleep in the front of his car after a meal out.
The Argentine duo spent a lot of time together when Zabaleta, who currently plays for West Ham, turned out for Espanyol in the Catalan city from 2005 to 2008.
Zabaleta was filmed treating Hammers team-mates Adrian, Manuel Lanzini and Pedro Obiang to a traditional Argentine asado barbecue during their time off. But, as they sat down to eat, the 33-year-old explained how he drove a sleeping Messi to the completely wrong property.
The two-time Premier League champion said: 'They (former club San Lorenzo) sold me to Espanyol in Barcelona so Messi and I happened to be in the same city. And we had lots of free time and went out a lot to eat.
'He used to eat and immediately fall asleep. He bought a house outside Barcelona in Castelldefels, a beautiful house in the mountains. But he also had a flat in the city centre. We went to eat, we got to the car and he fell asleep. I asked him: "Leo, before you sleep, where do I take you?"
'"To my house in Castel de Fels," he said and he fell asleep. We arrived at his house and I woke Leo up and he said: "not here! I told you my other house!".
'I replied: "No no... I don't care. You can sleep out here. You can't do this to me!". No of course I took him back. In my car I had €80million worth of talent sat next to me!'
Zabaleta recently called for consistency from West Ham after the international break.
The London club, who began the campaign with four defeats, appeared to be back on track after victories over Everton and Manchester United on either side of a draw against Chelsea.
However, Manuel Pellegrini's side lost 1-0 to Brighton and Hove Albion last time out which left them 15th in the standings with seven points from eight matches.
'OK, let's say the situation isn't a crisis but also it's not perfect. The most important thing we can learn from those games is to understand that to become a better team we need to improve our consistency,' Zabaleta told the club's website.
'Those dropped points make the difference in the table. If we had three or four more, we'd be a few places higher, six or seven points from the relegation zone and just three or four points from the European positions.'