Barcelona spokesman: We never give refs \'gifts\' as away team...

Published on: 28 February 2017

Barcelona insist as a visiting team they never offer 'gifts' to the match officials.

Villarreal president Fernando Roig raised the topic yesterday when claiming the referees left with "Real Madrid bags" after Sunday's defeat.

It's since been claimed it's a normal custom for Spanish football.

But Barca spokesman Josep Vives said: "That's not right:

"I do not know what is meant as a gift. Barça delivers, as a courtesy, some merchandising of the club. In fact, we always talk about that with the referees when they visit more than once.

"But as visitors we do not give presents, only as hosts."

Vives also spoke of Gerard Pique's critical social media post aimed at Real.

"Regarding Gerard's tweet, if we respect freedom of expression, we must respect Pique's," he added.

Source: tribalfootball.com

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