While Gerard Pique is a hero to the people of Catalunia for not only supporting the referendum on Catalan independence, but for publicly speaking out against the Spanish police who attacked voters on Sunday morning - and the president that ordered them to do so - his actions have made him even more unpopular in Spain.
Pique offered to resign from the Spanish national team if his beliefs were a problem for anyone in the setup, but he still reported for training on Monday which would suggest that nobody told him to do otherwise.
Unfortunately for the Barcelona man, he was given a torrent of abuse from the Spain fans who turned up to training as they made it very clear that they did not want him involved with the team.
Sale Piqué pic.twitter.com/F61hBh1mYk
— Eduardo J. Castelao (@EJCASTELAO) October 2, 2017
Pique, asshole, get out of the national team!
Imagine hearing that sort of reaction at an open training session, it's barely believable.
It shows just how intense the political unrest in Spain is, and we saw Spanish flags were rolled out in the crowd as Real Madrid defeated Espanyol last night to hammer home the point.
TV reporters askes those in the crowd why they were there, with most of them confirming they attended solely to abuse Pique. The training session was ended after just 23 minutes.
TV reporters asking people why they are there. Admitted they’d only come to abuse Piqué, not watch the team train.
— David Cartlidge (@davidjaca) October 2, 2017
23 mins of training and Spain are done. Piqué goes off with security guard, objects thrown. What a mess…https://t.co/dWYrzTTOwd
— David Cartlidge (@davidjaca) October 2, 2017
Pique was also heckled as he walked off the pitch at the conclusion of the session.
Tras 23 minutos España deja de entrenar pic.twitter.com/LjD3Jvjx81
— Eduardo J. Castelao (@EJCASTELAO) October 2, 2017
An ugly situation.
How must the squad be feeling seeing one of their teammates treated like that? It's unlikely to bother Pique, as he has been subjected to this kind of abuse before for his stance, but it hadly seems like ideal preparation for a World Cup qualifier.
