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Gerard Pique fuels Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry after calling Alvaro Arbeloa a 'cone' ahead of Club World Cup

Pique also had his say on Sergio Ramos and Esteban Granero after being criticised for his previous outburst

Jack de Menezes
Wednesday 16 December 2015 16:36 GMT
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Barcelona defender Gerard Pique arrives in Japan for the Club World Cup
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique arrives in Japan for the Club World Cup

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has attempted to clarify his comments made about Real Madrid rival Alvaro Arbeloa after calling the Spain international a “cone” last week, which prompted a fierce response from Sergio Ramos and Esteban Granero.

Pique is in Japan preparing for Barcelona’s Club World Cup campaign, the mid-season reward for the Champions League winners that sees the six best teams across the nation compete after winning their respective confederation-wide tournaments.

Barcelona begin their campaign against Japanese side Guangzhou Evergrande on Thursday, but the build-up to the Club World Cup semi-final has been dominated by Pique’s comments, which have been taken as an insult by members of the Real side.

Speaking after the La Liga draw with Deportivo La Coruna last weekend, Pique appeared to label Arbeloa a cone, something that was linked to an Instagram post that was liked by his former Real team-mate Iker Casillas that also referenced the right-back to a training cone.

However, Pique has spoken again to try an clarify his comments, and said that he only mentioned Arbeloa as someone who is “not my friend but someone I know”.

"I have nothing more to say, I just said that he was not my friend but an acquaintance and people interpreted that in their own way,” said Pique. “I was very clear and have nothing more to say on the matter.”

The Barcelona defender also addressed the response he provoked from his Spain centre-back partner Ramos, although he stressed that he was not offended by the 29-year-old’s input and that he “admires” the Real captain.

"Any captain would leap to his player's defence because they thought I'd attacked a team-mate,” he added after Ramos had told him to show “maximum respect” to his team-mates. “I also admire him and he knows it. I really mean that.”

However, Pique was not so accepting to criticism from former Real Madrid and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Esteban Granero. The current Real Sociedad player claimed that Pique need to “forget about your complexes and respect your elders”, but Pique brushed off his outburst and refused to give him a response.

He said: "Nothing in this world surprises me anymore. I don't have to respond to him. We're here to take part in a Club World Cup tournament because we won the Champions League. I can't control anyone else's answers and everyone can do whatever they want".

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