The former Manchester United man was given his marching orders after abusing the assistant referee when he did not raise his flag for an offside decision.
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The central defender was sent off in the early stages of the second half of the game at Camp Nou on Monday, which ended in a 1-1 draw as Barca suffered a 5-1 aggregate defeat.
Fans of Spanish football should buckle up for another wild ride and watch live online this weekend as Spain’s glamorous top division, La Liga, opens its 2015-2016 season with a full slate of matches – including league powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid in action in separate games Sunday – many of them available in streaming online video.
The BBC Sport website and app will continue to have live text commentaries on major La Liga matches this season, starting with Atletico Madrid v Las Palmas (19:30 KO on Saturday).
However, Pique issued a statement via his official twitter account, expressing his heartfelt apology for screaming at the linesman, but insists that he did not yell profanities at him.
Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique has been handed four-match ban by the RFEF’s Competition Committee for his profanity-laced rant against the linesman resulting in a red card in Monday evening’s Spanish Super Cup loss. “It was a game of great tension in which we were playing for a lot. However, at no point did a insult this person in any way”.
Madrid club president Florentino Perez is yet to make a big splash in the transfer market, instead limiting himself to buying players like Mateo Kovacic and Kiko Casilla to help, not transform, his team. Barca midfielder Ivan Rakitic also defended his teammate’s actions claiming the referee had been too quick to produce the red card.
Moreover, Los Che look set to lose their most important player from last season in Nicolas Otamendi. “A sending-off like that also worries me because he spoke without any bad intent it was the nerves” the Croatian said on Tuesday.
The BBC reported that Chelsea had agreed a fee of 21 million (29.8m euros 32.9m) with the reigning European champions and that the 28-year-old was on a flight to London to finalize the terms of the transfer. In last season’s installation at San Mames, Barcelona ran out 5-2 victors.
Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea has been strongly linked with a move to Real, but that deal has yet to materialise.
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Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar were all on target in the league rout, the trio collecting three of the record 122 goals they scored between them during the campaign.
