Gerard Pique slams Real Madrid for attitude towards referees 

Gerard Pique has criticised Real Madrid‘s attitude towards referees, saying if they played other sports, they would also complain about their officials as well.

The Barcelona centre-back was responding to a question about the Catalan club’s basketball triumph over their capital city rivals in the Copa del Rey final on Sunday.

Barcelona overturned a 17-point deficit to defeat Real Madrid 94-93 in a thrilling contest, but it was overshadowed by poor refereeing calls with just seconds remaining.

Gerard Pique has criticised Real Madrid’s attitude towards referees in football and basketball

Pique was responding to question about Barcelona’s controversial basketball win over Real

Speaking to reporters after Barcelona’s 0-0 draw with Lyon and as quoted by Marca, Pique said: ‘It happens in basketball and in football.

‘Then they go to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano and they’re quiet for a while after what happened there.

‘It’s a good thing they don’t do other sports, like handball or hockey, as they’d complain about those too.’

Following the defeat, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez threatened to withdraw his basketball side from the ACB, Spanish basketball’s governing body.

The controversy surrounded key decisions with seconds remaining. With Madrid leading by a point, Real’s Jeffery Taylor appeared to be obstructed but the call wasn’t given.

Real were leading with a second remaining however controversial decisions turned the game

Then, with just a second left, Madrid’s Anthony Randolph was adjudged to have fouled Ante Tomic, allowing Barcelona the chance to seize victory in overtime.

Pique also referenced Real Madrid’s victory 3-1 over Atletico earlier this month, which was helped by two crucial VAR decisions.

Barcelona currently top La Liga by seven points but they failed to score against Lyon on Tuesday night.

Barcelona were held 0-0 by Lyon on Tuesday in first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie

And Pique believes they needed to be more clinical in front of goal.

He added:  ‘We had chances and it’s true that it was difficult when we tried to score.

‘But I am generally content. I think we’ve improved, but we can improve even more.

‘The truth is that we weren’t clinical up front, but that doesn’t overly worry me. Those up front have shown over their careers that they can score lots of goals and the ball will end up going in.’