'It hits my hand, but for me, it's not a penalty'
Gerard Pique, the Barca defender, gave his opinion on his side's draw against Osasuna at El Sadar in the interview area.
Gerard Pique, the Barca defender, gave his opinion on his side's draw against Osasuna at El Sadar in the interview area.
Gerard Pique gave his opinion on the handball which brought about Osasuna's equaliser in the 2-2 draw.
"It hits my hand. But we always have meetings before the start of the season and they talk the distance between the ball and the player. I didn't have time to get my arm out of the way. I'm not occupying more space than usual with my hand, I'm jumping naturally. I would like the referees to try and do it. For me, as someone who has seen it first hand, it's not a penalty," Pique explained.
The defender called for calm. "We are not worried, it's not the start we wanted, but we know that the season is very long. The important thing is to still have a chance of winning the league in March or April. We would have liked to have nine points from nine, we are finding more difficult than we thought," he admitted.
"I'm not saying we are nervous, but since the end of last season there have been lots of opinions over the state of the club. It's true that we haven't done well in the Champions League the last two seasons, but let's keep calm. It's good there are diverse opinions, but we should give it a few months. We won two leagues and the cup in the first year. There are two options, go in favour or go against and the best thing for the team is for everyone to go in the same direction," Pique commented on the supposed anxiety around the club.
He also spoke about Neymar: "The players we have are the ones that are here and we have to focus on what we have here. We will see whether he comes or not, there are a lot of people involved in the move."
"Despite the players out, we have gone out with lots of academy players and we have been good enough. We have to improve, but it's important we all stay together. It's a good time to give the team confidence," Pique concluded.