Barcelona Star, Pique To Quit Spain In Support Of Catalonia Referendum

Barcelona Star, Pique To Quit Spain In Support Of Catalonia Referendum

The referendum violence in the Catalan capital Barcelona didn’t only get to show the world a different side of Spain, it may have cost the Iberian Peninsula country one of their finest payers as Barca defender Gerard Pique has offered to quit the Spanish national side.

Pique – fiercely pro-Catalan – on Sunday said he would quit Spain after the Catalunya region was engulfed by violence between referendum voters and police.

Shocking footage of Spanish national police striking out at protesters across the region went viral, with some of the bloodiest clashes occurring in Catalan capital Barcelona.

More than 400 people are so far reported injured from the clashes, while Barca were forced to play their La LIga clash with Las Palmas played behind closed doors.

Though Barca coasted to a 3-0 win, with Sergio Busquets and Leo Messi getting the goals, Pique, who voted before the match, laid down the gauntlet to his critics in the RFEF and national team, Goal writes.

Piqué: "This is one of the worst decisions in 50 years. They have separated Catalunya and Spain more and there will be consequences."

— Ben Hayward (@bghayward) October 1, 2017

Piqué: “You vote yes, no or leave a blank vote, but you vote. In the Franco era, we couldn’t defend our ideas. I am and I feel Catalan."

— Ben Hayward (@bghayward) October 1, 2017

“If the coach or any director of the Federation thinks that I am a problem for the national, I will step aside before the World Cup,” an emotional Pique said after the match.

“It has been a very hard game to play, the worst experience of my professional career.

“I am and I feel like a Catalan and today I am proud of the people of Catalunya.

“We are not a minority, there were millions of us. We are not the bad guys, we just want to vote.”

Meanwhile, Barca could be forced out of La Liga in the event of Catalunya seceding from Spain, with the Premier League and Ligue 1 already touted as likely destinations.