The coach did not reveal why he chose to withdraw the Argentine during a routine victory in La Liga
Barcelona boss Luis Enrique refused to entertain questions over why he substituted Lionel Messi during Saturday's win over Athletic Bilbao.
The Argentina captain scored his side's second goal of their 3-0 win at Camp Nou with an opportunistic free-kick but was surprisingly withdrawn with 64 minutes played.
Messi - who had played every minute of Barca's matches in 2017 until that point - appeared to be initially frustrated to have been taken off, although he was seen joking with Luis Suarez, himself given a rest as an unused substitute, during the closing stages.