Gerard Pique should be commended, not criticised

When Gerard Pique announced he was to give a press conference following a week in which he was booed by Spain supporters and reproached by team-mate Sergio Ramos for goading Real Madrid, people thought he was going to apologise for his actions. They thought he was going to take a step back and call for peace.

Instead, the defender used the press conference to reiterate his hatred for Real Madrid, declaring he “always wants Madrid to lose” and to boast that when Madrid played Juventus last year in the Champions League semi-final, he wore a Buffon shirt.

In a country and an era where every single word footballers say is picked apart, analysed and often twisted, footballers have become scared of saying anything at all. They are hurried through mixed zones by overbearing press officers who limit them to short exchanges with journalists in which they regurgitate cliches, so scared are they of blemishing their image by saying anything that might be deemed controversial.

This is why Pique’s bold, clearly spoken press conference was so refreshing and so compelling.

Here is a man who does not try to play down the ill-feeling between Real Madrid and Barcelona, one of the greatest rivalries in sport. Rather, he embraces it. He feeds on it. He laps it up.

“When the Bernabeu boos me it’s music to my ears,” Pique said. And he meant it.

Pique was booed by Spain fans in Leon after he teased Madrid during Barcelona’s victory parade, remarking that rapper Kevin Roldan’s appearance at Cristiano Ronaldo’s birthday party the night of their 4-0 thrashing at Atletico Madrid had derailed Real’s title bid.

He was booed by Spain fans in Oviedo on Friday for saying to his Barca team-mates “F*** Real Madrid” while insisting they did a lap of honour after winning the European Super Cup.

But these are far from the only instances in which he has stoked tensions between Barca and Madrid. 

When the Catalans thrashed Jose Mourinho’s Madrid 5-0 in 2010, it was Pique who held his five fingers up in a ‘manita’ salute, and then urged all his team-mates to do the same.

When Madrid were awarded a generous late penalty decision at Elche two years ago, the watching Pique wrote on Twitter: “Currently watching a great comedy on the football channel. These ones are always hilarious.”

They are also far from the only instances in which players, coaches and presidents have ramped up the rivalry between Spain’s biggest clubs, although the media and supporters tend to spare their faux-outrage for when Pique opens his mouth.

Yet rather than condemn Pique for living out this rivalry, he should be commended.

A strange situation exists today where footballing derbies are hyped up by the media in an attempt to get everyone to watch them, yet when a footballer is seen acting out the rivalry, such as Pique or Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, he is vilified.

Passionate characters like Pique, whose grandfather was once the vice-president of Barcelona and who has been a club member since he was a baby, are what make the great footballing rivalries so compelling.

Gary Neville reached iconic status with Manchester United fans when he ran the length of the Old Trafford pitch to taunt the away fans following Rio Ferdinand’s injury-time winner against Liverpool. 

United supporters also fondly remember Gordon Strachan, who won just one trophy in an injury-stricken five year period with the club, because he scored a late equaliser at Anfield, and celebrated by pretending to smoke a cigar in front of the Kop. 

And although Carlos Tevez helped Boca Juniors win two Copa Libertadores titles in his first spell at the club, fans remember the moment he mocked River Plate supporters by doing a chicken dance after scoring at their Monumental stadium more fondly.

The Superclasico between River and Boca is one of few fixtures that can claim to rival Spain's Clasico as the top rivalry in world football, so it should come as no surprise that when River won the Copa Libertadores in August, their players jubilantly sang offensive songs mocking Boca.

Pique is far from the only player to enjoy goading his enemy when his team wins trophies, no matter what Sergio Ramos may claim.

And his unashamed defence of his right to hate Madrid will only cement his place in the heart of Barcelona fans, and increase his bid to one day go one better than his grandfather and become club president.