Gerard Pique defends himself after handball controversy in Villarreal-Barcelona match

Pique hits back at critics

Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw against Villarreal yesterday after the home side made a wonderful comeback in the second half.  And the Yellow Submarines might have even been playing against 10 men it hadn't been for a refereeing mistake.

Gerard Pique was booked early on in the game for a handball after an attempt to tackle Denis Suarez. And the defender should have received his marching orders just before half-time for a deliberate handball as he went into a sliding challenge.

But fortunately for Barcelona, the referee missed it and the Spaniard escaped a possible sending off. But he did not manage to escape the criticism of several fans and journalists after the game as they voiced their concern against the official’s partiality.

But the 29-year-old has hit back at his critics saying he should not have been cautioned in the first place. “To begin with, the first yellow card was not fair,” he said after the match at El Madrigal. That ends the discussion. The ball hit me on the chest.“

“For the second one, though, it’s true the ball hit my hand, but I had to fall in that way. So yes, I admit there’s a discussion and a debate, but there’s no doubt that if I’m not shown the first booking, we’re not discussing all this now”

He was also highly critical about how the media looks at refereeing decisions in a Barcelona game saying, “It’s likely we’d have appealed the first yellow card and maybe I’d have been able to play against Madrid. You never know When they favour us, people talk, but when it’s the reverse, no-one says anything.” 

Barcelona are still 9 points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid despite the draw and Pique only looked at the positives,”The victory got away from us, but we managed to get a point. There are eight games left and we have a nine point lead. We have to look at things positively.”

Pique has a war of words with journalist

There was  a lot of chatter on social media after the consequences of the refereeing decisions in both Barcelona and Real Madrid’s matches. Pique is known to always voice his opinion and never shies away from a debate on social media.

This time, he had a heated exchange with a journalist named Pedro J Ramirez after the latter was very blunt in his opinion about the refereeing decisions. The journalist initially posted this, “If this is no a sending off then my God…) The clear red card offence by Pique which the referee did not want to see.”

To that Pique gave his response, “Why don’t you talk about the first yellow? Because it doesn’t interest you. Take of your club colours when you’re being a journalist.”