Football News: Pique Admits Fabregas Passed On Arsenal Team Sheets

Image from: barcelonafootballblog.com

Recently Barcelona defender Gerard Pique gave a rather bizarre and controversial interview, in which he talked a lot about his good friend Cesc Fabregas, and how they stayed close while the pair were in England. Pique spent some time at Manchester United, before returning to Barca, while Fabregas was then at Arsenal. Pique has revealed that the pair used to leak the teamsheets to each other, "when Manchester United played Arsenal.... we called to tell each other the teams."

Following the major role Pique played in tapping up Fabregas in order to get him to return to Barcelona, this 'revelation' probably comes as no surprise. Clearly neither player cared enough about their first English clubs to remain professional and keep private information to themselves. Though, it must be said, this kind of thing has always gone on, players talk and tell each other (and many other people) things they should really keep to themselves, which is why so many managers would not reveal the teamsheets until the last second.

This would probably barely have merited a mention in the papers, if it was not for the fact that Fabregas returned to England recently, though this time to sign for Arsenal's London rivals, Chelsea, after Arsene Wenger turned down the chance to re-sign him for the Gunners. Already his relationship with the Gooners was fraught, to say the least, following the way he left to return to Catalonia and then choosing to sign for Chelsea. Will these comments have lifted the disdain he was being treated with, into a genuine dislike?

Also, does this still go on when their two present teams face each other in Europe, will Cesc be on the blower to Gerard swapping teamsheets ahead of the game? Do they pass on the information to their managers, or do they keep it to themselves? Knowing how quick Barcelona were to use Pique, and others, to tap up players they are interested in, including Fabregas while he was with Arsenal, it is hard to believe that the coaching staff at the club are not fully appraised of the information acquired in this way.

It was not that long ago that Cardiff City were embroiled in a major storm of controversy after they officially complained about then Crystal Palace boss Tony Pulis asking their sporting director, Iain Moody, who had worked for the Bluebirds the previous season, to find out the Cardiff line-up ahead of their Premier League game. Cardiff took the matter to the FA and asked for the result, which was a 3-0 home defeat to the Eagles, to be set aside. A member of staff was also sacked by the Welsh team for initially passing the line-up over to Moody.

While passing on team line-ups for forthcoming games could well be seen as harmless chat between opposing players in the build up to a match, if it is being passed on to the coaching staff, then it becomes a significant advantage to use. Will UEFA even bother to investigate these comments?

Written by Tris Burke October 12 2015 10:51:08