Gerard Pique has hit back at Cristiano Ronaldo in the wake of the Real Madrid attacker's claims that the referee favoured Barcelona in the Catalans' 4-3 La Liga win on Sunday.
Referee Undiano Mallenco played a leading role in the enthralling encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu as he awarded three penalties over the course of the game - two to Barcelona and one to Madrid - and sent off Sergio Ramos, prompting Ronaldo to accuse the official of bias
toward the Catalans.
However, Pique has stressed that Ronaldo should not be looking for excuses given that the Portugal star was awarded a controversial penalty after being tripped by Dani Alves outside the box.
"It's a real shame that Ronaldo is complaining about the referee again after such a great game," the defender told reporters.
"If we go and discuss each individual decision, Ronaldo's penalty was outside the area...
"It is unfair to talk about the referee. He did not have any influence on the final result."
Sunday's win saw Barcelona move to within one point of their arch-rivals and joint leaders Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.