What’s the story?
Victoriano Sánchez Arminio, the president of the referee committee of La Liga has announced that the association has filed a complaint against Barcelona defender Gerard Pique for the words that the player used against the referees in Barcelona’s match against Villareal.
According to Spanish outlet Sport, the referee committee has sent a letter to the Spanish Football Federation filing a double complaint against the outspoken defender for what he said after Barcelona’s match against Athletic Bilbao and the recently drawn match against Villareal.
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This is not the first time that Gerard Pique has come into conflict with La Liga referees. The player has been in the news several times in the past for bashing referees and calling them ‘biased’. The Spaniard has often hit out at the Spanish football association claiming that the authorities are against them and this may be happening because of the club’s Catalan origins.
Pique has also stated multiple times that Real Madrid are often given the benefit of doubt by the referees and the double standards in refereeing have to stop.
The heart of the matter
The first incident happened during Barcelona’s Copa Del Ray match against Athletic Bilbao, which the Blaugrana ultimately lost. The Spanish defender lost his cool after Barcelona were denied two possible penalties. In a post-match rant, Pique quipped, "The penalty to Neymar was very clear and the one with Gorka [Iraizoz] on me, too, but we already know how this works.’’
Barcelona’s next game was against Villareal in the league which they ultimately drew thanks to a wonderful free kick by Lionel Messi in the dying minutes. In the game, a couple of incidents involving Neymar and Umtiti were not called out by the refs and Pique’s anger knew no bounds.
The player was heard saying, ’’we already know how this works’’ after the refs refused to give a penalty for the incidents.
After the match, Pique stormed off the field but momentarily stopped at the tunnel and pointed up at the presidential box towards La Liga chief Tebas and shouted, “Did you see that? Yes you!”.
What’s next?
The refereeing committee is certainly a powerful organisation and will go all out to ensure that Pique is punished for unabashedly criticising the referees on national television. It remains to be seen whether the defender will challenge the decision if he is penalised by the Spanish Football Federation, which is the supreme authority for all such actions.
Sportskeeda’s take
Over the years there has certainly been a drop in refereeing standards. The authorities definitely have to get a solution for this ever-growing menace. Video refereeing could be added to the game for all such controversial decisions. But, a lot of purists have said that this would hamper the flow of the game.
However, on the whole, a public outburst against the referees was an unwise move by Gerard Pique who has invited trouble by not just going after the referees but the La Liga President as well.
