Gerard Pique Calls on Spanish Media to Focus on Serious Matters Instead of VAR

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has criticised Spain's media and said the press focus too much on video assistant referee controversies rather than serious issues like Catalan "political prisoners" on trial.

VAR was again a topic of discussion on Wednesday as Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu to advance to the Copa del Rey final, winning their semi-final clash 4-1 on aggregate.

Pique spoke to the media after the victory and appealed for more coverage of issues he considers far graver:

"If Spanish TV spent more time covering the trial of the political prisoners, which is super unjust, so the people of Spain could see a little more of what's going on, instead of talking about VAR, maybe the country would be doing a little better."

AS referred to Catalonia's 2017 referendum for independence, which was declared illegal by the Spanish authorities despite citizens voting almost unanimously in favour of a split from Spain.

Pique, 32, is a senior star at the Camp Nou and usually an outspoken figure on matters concerning the state of Catalonia, whose national team he's represented on nine occasions.

He played the full 90 minutes of Wednesday's 3-0 hammering of Real, where VAR was brought back into the spotlight early on, via Eleven Sports:

Oriol Junqueras, the former Catalan vice-president, took the stand in a Madrid court earlier in February and described himself as a political prisoner, per the Guardian's Stephen Burgen. He is one of 12 figures facing charges for the unsuccessful referendum, some of which carry sentences of up to 25 years.

La Liga has adopted the video assistant referee for the first time this season after testing in other leagues and competitions, though there have been controversies nonetheless.

Pique's urge to concentrate on other matters came a few days after rivals Real won 2-1 at Levante thanks to two questionable penalty decisions awarded via VAR, the second of which was particularly contentious:

The centre-back spoke of his delight to win at Real but was focused on the next challenge as his side prepare for another Clasico in La Liga on Saturday:

"We've been lucky to win a lot of games here and by some big margins. But it was a complicated match and they're not that far behind us [in the league]. We can't relax now because it would not bode well for Saturday.

"We're coming through this phase of games—which was really tough [away against Lyon, Sevilla and Madrid twice]—really well. You can't always play well, but we're getting results and we hope to get another good result in the next Clasico."

Barca are unbeaten in their last seven competitive meetings with Real, and both teams will hope to win El Clasico without any need for intervention from VAR in Madrid.