Gerard Piqué sent off with red card in final ever game: what did he say?
In his final game before retiring, Piqué was given a red card at halftime and never able to play. Xavi feels the officials were unfairly against Barcelona.
Gerard Piqué never saw the field in his final game of his professional career, instead getting a red card at halftime.
“I was going to use [Gerard Piqué],” said Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernández. “We knew that Chad [Riad] was going to come in, Andreas [Christensen] was struggling with an injury. Eric [García] had some discomfort in the warmup. And we were forced to not have him start. We did think about bringing in Gerard, but he was sent off at halftime when things got tense.”
At halftime, Barcelona was down 1-0 to Osasuna and the tension was indeed high. The officials had given a corner to Osasuna despite it appearing not to touch a Barcelona player. Because of that, Osasuna scored, leading to even more uproar from Barcelona, who felt there was a foul on Marcos Alonso. Just 20 minutes later, Barcelona was down to 10 players. Robert Lewandowski received a second yellow card for jumping into the defender without intending to go for the ball.
What did Gerard Piqué say to get himself a red card against Osasuna?
When halftime came, Piqué came onto the field and made a beeline for official Jesus Gil Manzano, throwing accusations at him that could reportedly be heard through the tunnel. According to Mundo Deportivo, this is what he said to get himself a red card and thrown out of his last ever game.
“Did you see the corner you gave against us? You are the referee that has f***ed us over the most by a distance. It’s a f****ing disgrace. F*** your mother.”
Barcelona ended up winning the game 2-1, on goals by Pedri and Raphinha in the second half. They are now undefeated in their last seven trips to Osasuna in LaLiga. The win ensured that Barcelona will go into the World Cup break at the top of the LaLiga standings. Xavi said he was proud of the win, but thought the referees were unfair towards Barcelona.
“We felt that wasn’t just, we felt they were against us and that’s why we reacted so strongly,” he said after the game. “We celebrated this win as if everything was against us. The goal we conceded was a foul, then Lewandowski was sent off. All the decisions by the referee went against us and we thought we grabbed a win in a game we might tie.”
At the end of the game, both Lewandowski and Piqué didn’t seem to mind having to leave the game and were all smiles.
“We showed personality and character, and we proved that we’re a team,” said Xavi.