BarcelonaWaste of paper? Or Gerard Piqué’s last serve? A doubt that only the Blaugrana central will be able to solve in the future. The footballer, who was saying goodbye as a professional at Sadar, could not play a single minute of Osasuna-Barça. His role was different. At half-time, and after the first 45 minutes where Barça felt harmed by the referee’s performance, Piqué jumped onto the pitch and decided to act as captain and put pressure on the referee. It cost him the red, of course, but he was already counting on that: he wanted to ensure that in the second half the referee had, in his opinion, fair refereeing.
The match was hot for Barça, who were losing 1-0 at the Sadar against Osasuna and who, in addition, were playing with 10 men due to the strict expulsion of Lewandowski in the 30th minute. But it is that, in addition to moreover, the home goal had been equally controversial; Unai García had pushed Marcos Alonso with both arms at the start of the play – in which Unai would end up deflecting the ball to score the goal – but neither the referee nor the VAR appreciated any punishable action. Between this and the diversity of criteria when showing cards, Piqué exploded. He jumped onto the pitch at half-time – he was a substitute – and pointed at referee Gil Manzano.
“Did you see which corner you whistled for us? You are the referee who has screwed us the most, by far,” Piqué would have said to the Extremadura referee while heading to the dressing room. Indeed, while Piqué and the referee were on the pitch, the still Barcelona footballer wanted to speak to the referee but he resisted the conversation, sprinting to go to the dressing room. The story, according to the minutes, continued when there were no cameras: “once communicated to the club delegate [Carlos Naval] the expulsion, he continued to repeat the same terms described in the Expulsions section, having to be brought into his dressing room by the staff of his club, while addressing me with the following terms. “It’s a fucking shame, I shit on your fucking mother!”, according to the minutes.
Beyond the allegations that Barça may decide to present, the arbitration report will involve several penalty games for Gerard Piqué. An expensive toll, a priori, for having won three points. Now: the central player, who already announced that he was retiring from active football, will not have to fulfill them.
But Gil Manzano’s refereeing record is indeed conflicting for Robert Lewandowski, expelled for a double yellow card, rigorous in the eyes of several analysts. The fact is that, because of this red, Lewandowski the Pole will automatically lose the derby against Espanyol, on New Year’s Eve, the first game after the stoppage for the World Cup.
However, Lewandowski could be banned for more than one game. And it will depend on the interpretation made by Competition of the arbitration act. “Once sent off, and when he was heading towards the exit of the field, the player twice made a gesture of disapproval of the referee’s decision, consisting of bringing his finger to his nose and then pointing with his thumb up. When he was already leaving the field of play again repeated the gesture looking towards assistant number 1 and towards the fourth official,” the minutes said.
According to various media, which took into account the Polish origin of Robert Lewandowski, this gesture is made when you want to accuse someone of being arrogant or superb. In any case, the interpretation that Competición can make may imply that Lewandowski, beyond the derby, will be suspended for several games. The Federation will decide.
