Gerard Pique curious about penalty decision, regrets Barca not taking their chances

Gerard Pique admits Real Madrid were superior to Barcelona

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has asked what the criteria for the penalty decision given against him was even though he has admitted that the ball did touch his hand.

The 27-year-old was responsible for Real Madrid’s equaliser after sloppily handling the ball while trying to block Marcelo’s cross with a slide inside his own 18-yard box. The referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot which was converted by Cristiano Ronaldo thus cancelling Neymar’s early lead for the Blaugranas. Real Madrid emerged victorious at the Santiago Bernabeu as they claimed the bragging rights in the first El Clasico of the season.

Pique admits the ball touched his hand but it was unintentional

But Pique thinks that there should be a rule devised to determine whether the offense was intentional or unintentional.

"My handball? It was unintentional. I could not get my hand out of the way," the defender told reporters.

"It would be nice to know what the criteria is because it's true the ball touches my hand but I couldn't get it out of the way.

"He kicked the ball and I can't disappear. The ball hit my hand and the whistle was blown then.

"The referee didn't say anything. I threw myself to the ground to use my body and I couldn't put my hands behind my back."

Barcelona should have been 2-0 up

The Spanish international also regretted squandering their first half chances as things could have been different for them. He also admitted that Madrid were the superior side in the second half and they deserved to win the game.

"We started the game well and could have gone 2-0 up," he said.

"But in the end, I think that Madrid deserve their win based on the second half."

Barcelona’s lead has been cut to one point by Los Blancos and now they have 22 points from 9 games.