Pique deliberate booking during Arsenal vs Barcelona denied by Luis Enrique

Enrique summoned Pique over to the sideline for a secretive chat after Lionel Messi slotted home hit late penalty, and the Spanish defender picked up a booking which ruled him out of the tie’s second leg barely a minute later with a wild tackle.

However, despite having had a brief discussion with Pique just before he drew the yellow card late on, Enrique denied that it was planned, per MailOnline’s Dan Ripley: “It was not deliberate, anyone who saw the foul knows it”.

Did Gerard Pique get himself deliberately booked against Arsenal?

However, BT Sport pundits Ian Wright and Ronald Koeman were less than convinced with the Barca boss’s denial. If we get a good score tomorrow that would be fantastic, but we have a lot of confidence going into the second leg whatever happens.

Former Arsenal striker Wright said: “I think so, yeah”.

Barca have more than enough quality in their squad to see out the tie at the Camp Nou without Pique and march on through to the quarter-finals.

Koeman said: “For sure he took it. It’s not a tackle that you do at 2-0 up”.

UEFA warn of at least a two-match suspension under Article 15 of its disciplinary regulations for any player that purposefully gets booked.

Yellow peril: Pique lunges in on Danny Welbeck…

The Telegraph notes how in 2010 Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso were found to have purposely been booked in the penultimate group stage game, meaning they missed the last round of the group and had a clean slate for the knockouts.

Then Real boss Jose Mourinho was handed a suspended two-game ban and £35,000 fine, while the players were fined £18,000 each.