Former Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué was one of the players who positioned himself in favor of the right to decide before the referendum that was held on October 1, 2017, the day a Barça-Las Palmas match was played behind closed doors at the Camp Nou.
In an interview offered to TV3 for the special program of the 125th anniversary of FC Barcelona ‘Som un clam’, Piqué explained to David Carabén how he lived that day and the weeks that followed, concentrated with the Spanish team at the Las Rozas facilities. “It was a very hard day, in the end a game was played that I think should not have been played, but it is a more personal opinion and the club decided to end up playing.”
Barça ended up winning the match 3-0 without an audience in the stands and later Piqué came out in front of the media and could not hold back his tears. “At the end of the game they put the microphone on me in the mixed zone. I was excited and the next day I went to Madrid to the Spanish team.”
“Lopetegui gave me an apology on a piece of paper for me to read”
Piqué revealed that upon arriving at the City of Football of the Royal Spanish Federation (RFEF) he received pressure from both the then coach, Julen Lopetegui, and the team captain, Sergio Ramos. “Surprisingly, the coach and the captain grabbed me and told me that I should apologize.”
The coach of the Spanish team reminded Piqué that he had positioned himself strongly in favor of Catalonia. Piqué replied that he had taken a position in favor of the right to decide and that he had no intention of asking for forgiveness.
What’s more, Piqué himself also explains that during the dialogue with Lopetegui, the coach even gave him a paper with a writing for a speech that he had to communicate the next day at a press conference. “I threw the paper in the trash and talked to them again.” Seven years later, Piqué confessed what happened those days.
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