Barcelona rocked by 4-match Gerard Pique ban

Barcelona also have their opening La Liga fixture against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames.

The Spain worldwide was shown a straight red card 10 minutes into the second half at the Nou Camp after yelling in the face of the assistant referee, an action he later apologised for on Twitter.

Athletic Club Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde was delighted after leading his club to their first title in 31 years as Athletic lifted the Spanish Super Cup in brilliant fashion against FC Barcelona. Pique struck the crossbar from six yards before reported Manchester United transfer target Pedro, running onto a promising 28th-minute low corner, had both time and space to shoot from just outside of the penalty area but instead produced an unexpected air-kick.

Bilbao had thrashed Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg last week. Luis Enrique’s side were hoping to stage a remarkable comeback but dismissal of defender Gerard Pique shortly after the interval ended their hopes of completing a turnaround.

Reports initially suggested Pique could have faced a ban of up to 12 matches but will now only miss the first four games of the new La Liga season.

The Spanish centre-back was red-carded early in the second half of the 1-1 Supercopa de Espana draw with Athletic Bilbao for allegedly telling the linesman “I s*** on your w**** mother”. “It’s a difficult match for us and on the road, but the team is doing well, we’ve worked very hard this pre-season and after the game against Barcelona, I think we’ve had a boost in confidence”.

After losing the first leg 4-0 the Catalans were never really in the hunt to win the tie, but Pique’s exit all but sealed their fate.

“In my opinion Bilbao played a great first leg and they are worthy champions”, Enrique said. “We didn’t have the best of luck, for example Gerard (Pique) hitting the bar but we played well”, he commented.

“We finally achieved the title that these people deserved”, he added.