Barcelona legend takes swipe at Real Madrid for 'smokescreen' referee complaints | OneFootball

Legendary Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has blasted Real Madrid for "always" using the performance of referees as a "smokescreen" to cover their deficiencies.

The 15-time Champions League winners wrote a letter of complaint to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday bemoaning the standard of officiating in La Liga, having been outraged by the decisions of Alejandro Muniz Ruiz in Sunday's 1-0 defeat to Espanyol.

Carlo Ancelotti said it was "inexplicable" that Carlos Romero was not shown a red card for scything down Kylian Mbappe, when the game was delicately poised at 0-0. The Espanyol defender would go on to score the winning goal five minutes from time.

"The events that occurred in this match have exceeded any margin for human error or referee interpretation," the club's letter said.

"What happened at the RCDE Stadium represents the culmination of a completely discredited refereeing system, in which decisions against Real Madrid have reached a level of manipulation and adulteration of the competition that can no longer be ignored.

"The two most serious refereeing decisions in this match have once again revealed the double standards with which Real Madrid is refereed.

"The brutal challenge on Kylian Mbappe, from behind, on the calf and with no possibility of contesting the ball, carried out in the 60th minute of the match by the Espanyol player who would later end up scoring the winning goal for his team, deserving of immediate expulsion as highlighted by the world press, ended with the decision of the referee, Alejandro Muniz Ruiz, to only show a yellow card without the VAR, with Javier Iglesias Villanueva as responsible, intervening to correct a manifestly erroneous decision, leaving unpunished an aggression that in any other competition would have been an exemplary sanction."

Madrid's complaints have drawn stinging criticism from Pique, who made 616 appearances for rivals Barcelona during an illustrious 15-year stint at the club, with the 38-year-old stating at an event at La Liga HQ that complaining is a pattern of behaviour exhibited for over a century whenever they lose.

Carlos Romero got away with chopping down Kylian Mbappe from behind / Alex Caparros/GettyImages

"The statement is a complete smokescreen because they have been doing it for 120 years and when they lose they have to talk about something else, because that is what they want," Pique said.

"The referees' conversation will always exist and this is what they have always done in Madrid, turning on the 'machinery' when things are not going well and we are used to it."

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick also jabbed at Madrid in his pre-Copa del Rey quarter-final media appearance, stating that the actions of the defending La Liga champions would never be replicated in Catalonia.

"This is their choice, they do it like this, it's not our way. I said no excuses and we will do it like that," the former Bayern Munich boss said. "Every club has some reasons to say something. We're humans, it's normal in life, everyone makes mistakes. The referees have tough jobs. we have to take care of them, it's not easy this situation.

"When I arrived I said no excuses, no complaining and no blaming, I don't like that."