Gerard Pique has criticised La Liga over Barcelona’s schedule over the last week or so.
It has been a difficult week for Barca, following up a crushing defeat to Bayern Munich with draws against Granada and Cadiz in La Liga.
The Blaugrana have performed poorly in those outings, but according to Pique, they have not been helped by the scheduling.
Barca played Bayern last Tuesday and had to wait until Monday to play their next game, facing Granada at Monday night at Camp Nou.
As part of the mid-week round of fixtures, Ronald Koeman‘s men then played Cadiz on Thursday night, and Pique thinks that might have put them at a disadvantage.
He said after the Cadiz draw: “What I don’t understand is how they put is in a schedule like this. They put us to play on Monday, this is what I don’t understand.
“I don’t know who does the schedule. How can it be like this? Why, after playing on Tuesday against Bayern have the put us on Monday?
“What happened with the referee (De Jong red card) can happen, you can be wrong. But this? It’s not a criticism, it’s a reflection. I don’t understand it.”
Barcelona’s fixture pattern may have been different, but they aren’t necessarily at a disadvantage.
Other teams competing in Europe has less of a rest between their Champions League or Europa League clash and their first game back in La Liga.
All teams were then given around 72 hours of rest before their mid-week fixture, and the same break is applied before this weekend’s fixtures.
While Barcelona’s fixture pattern was different in terms of days, they were not put at a disadvantage, and they were actually given an extended period of rest following their Champions League outing with Bayern.
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