No action over ‘deliberate’ Pique booking

UEFA won’t take action over allegations Gerard Pique purposely got himself suspended for Barcelona’s second leg against Arsenal.

Pique was booked in Barca’s 2-0 win over the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium, picking up the yellow card after Barca went into a two-goal lead and following a conversation on the sidelines with Coach Luis Enrique.

The centre-back will be suspended for the return leg at Camp Nou and it is suggested that with Barca comfortable – Arsene Wenger putting their chances of progression at 95% – that Barca wanted to scrub Pique’s record so he’d be out of danger of suspension later in the tournament.

Enrique denied post-match that Pique had set out to get booked and Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports UEFA have confirmed there’ll be no investigation or action taken.

The Telegraph notes how in 2010 Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso were found to have purposely been booked in the penultimate group stage game, meaning they missed the last round of the group and had a clean slate for the knockouts.

Ramos and Alonso were fined, as was trainer Jose Mourinho, who also received a suspended two-game ban.

Tags Arsenal Gerard Pique
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