Gerard Piqué isn't usually the one you'll find talking to the radio, television or the press in the mixed zone following a match. The defender is happy to give his thoughts on certain events but when he wants and how he wants. Yet whenever he does talk, everyone listens.
The fourth captain at Barça was one of the last to leave the dressing room after the Lyon match. And, instead of leaving alongside his teammates, he decided to venture into the mixed zone. He chose the television companies on purpose due to their need to constantly contrast and compare Real Madrid with FC Barcelona. Most of those companies are based in Madrid, too.
It wasn't by chance that Pique turned up there. He had something he wanted to say. "That's how it works. They complain and afterwards, they get the decisions which helped them against Atletico, then they keep quiet." This was based on Madrid's complaint following the Copa del Rey basketball match, which some felt was a deliberate tactic to put pressure on the officials going forward.
The uncomfortable tone in the dressing room has only increased following last season's action. Pique, once again in the mixed zone after Solari's comments, spoke on Saturday but it was Sunday where the real proof existed. He, like his teammates, watched in disgust as VAR failed to overturn the penalty awarded to Real Madrid after Casemiro had dived.
The squad believes that Real Madrid deliberately unsettled the current system which, until recently, had largely functioned correctly. However Madrid's approach has left a sour taste in the mouth ahead of two massive Clasicos in less than seven days.