Currently doing the media rounds due to his business interests, Barcelona legend Gerard Pique has made an incredible revelation about his time with the Spain national team.
The defender won both the European Championships and the World Cup with Spain, but later, in 2017, his relationship with his country took a blow.
Pique publically backed an independence vote for Catalunya on October 1 of that year, and then had to travel to play with Spain, when he was booed by supporters.
Recalling how intense things got during that break, he revealed that coach Julen Lopetegui and captain Sergio Ramos both asked him to apologise for his comments.
Speaking to TV3, he said: “Surprisingly, that night the coach and the captain, who were Julen Lopetegui and Sergio Ramos, met me. They said to me, ‘Gerard, you have to apologise. You have positioned yourself very much in favour of Catalonia’.
“I told them that I believed that I positioned myself with the right to vote and to be able to decide, so I was not going to make any statement or ask for forgiveness for it.
“Julen Lopetegui had already written down what I had to say on a piece of paper. He told me that tomorrow, I have to attend a press conference.
“I went to the room, read the paper, threw it in the bin and said, ‘Look, if you want me to do a press conference I will do it, but it will be my way’.
“I will say that I am not going to ask for forgiveness, I am warning you. From that point on, every time I went with the national team it was s*** and whistles…”
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