Pique riles rivals as he keeps Barca unbeaten
Barcelona’s Gerard Pique says his goal celebration was the least he could have done while marking the goal which earned Barcelona a 1-all draw in La Liga yesterday.
The defender headed home Lionel Messi’s free kick in the 82nd minute to preserve the league leaders’ 22-game unbeaten run, a club record, and levelling a spiky derby clash at a wet RCDE Stadium in Cornella.
Pique had been berated throughout by Espanyol fans for his comments after Barcelona eliminated their local rivals in the King’s Cup quarter-finals in January.
A long-time hate figure for Espanyol supporters, Pique stoked the fire by referring to them as ‘Espanyol de Cornella’ multiple times.
Espanyol moved to their stadium in the town near Barcelona in 2009 from the Olympic Stadium in Catalonia’s capital.
“They are from Cornella, like I said the other day,” said Pique. “I know it hurt them and I used sarcasm to annoy them.
“Saying they play in Cornella is not disrespectful, it’s a fact. They complain about that and report me, but they don’t investigate insults towards my family. That is disrespectful. Telling them to be quiet was the least I could do.”
Espanyol fans had hurled abuse at the defender and his pop star partner Shakira during the King’s Cup first leg at Cornella, which the hosts won 1-0.
After Pique scored yesterday he approached Espanyol supporters and put a finger to his lips.
Espanyol midfielder Esteban Granero was not impressed.
“When you provoke people you can’t later ask for respect,” Granero said.
Elsewhere, Angel Correa’s thunderbolt earned Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win over Valencia, helping them to close the gap on Barca to nine points.
Two goals from Cristhian Stuani gave Girona 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.