Despite criticizing the referee and appealing for his red card, Pique's match stays as Barcelona go head-to-head with Racing Santander.
Barcelona defender, Gerard Pique, will sit out the next La Liga game, after receiving his marching orders against Sporting Gijon last week.
Barcelona are to face Racing Santander away from home and despite Barcelona’s appeal against Gerard Pique’s red card, the Spanish defender is to serve a one-match ban after his appeal was dismissed.
Gerard Pique’s tackle on Miguel De las Cuevas saw him being sent off against Sporting Gijon, right after the second-half started.
Barcelona were leading the game 1-0, but conceded a goal while trying to settle with 10-men.
Despite being a man down, the Catalan giants pulled themselves together and managed to score two more goals past the Gijon goal stopper, in order to win the fixture 3-1.
It was Seydou Keita who scored the second goal, while Xavi Hernandez scored the third, in order to help Barcelona take all three points from the tricky home fixture.
The Spanish centre-back’s comments after the game led to a lot of controversy in the media. Gerard Pique said that the referee’s decision to send him off was ‘premeditated’ and he asked his club to opt to file an appeal against his red card.
With Barcelona filing Pique’s case in the Appeals Committee, it was revealed on Barcelona’s official website that the defender’s appeal has been dismissed and he will serve a one-match ban as Barcelona travel away from home, in order to face Racing
Santander.
Barcelona are currently 10 points behind their arch rivals, and league leaders, Real Madrid. The Catalan giants have been suffering a lot while being away from home and with Gerard Pique missing from the centre of defence it is going to be hard for
Josep Guardiola to adjust his defensive walls.
However, Eric Abidal and Carles Puyol were both rested in the game against Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Josep Guardiola can play them both in the centre of defence, with Adriano and Daniel Alves taking the full back-back positions.
Catalan giants have suffered a lot from injury and suspension issues this season and that is one of the major reasons why they are lagging behind Los Blancos this season.