Barcelona Ace Gerard Pique Takes Sly Dig at Real Madrid Over Guard of Honour Rumours

Barcelona ace Gerard Pique has made a sly dig at his team's arch rivals Real Madrid, after being asked his opinion on Los Blancos potentially refusing to give his side the guard of honour if they become La Liga champions before their next match.

Speaking after his side's 3-1 victory over Leganes, via Marca, the veteran defender was posed questions relating to the possibility of Real Madrid denying his side a guard of honour, Pique offered a typically tongue in cheek response, claiming: "I'm not going to sleep tonight".

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By the time the two sides off in the next El Clásico on the 5th May, Barcelona are likely to have wrapped up the title with time to spare. Traditionally, this would require Real Madrid to perform the 'pasillo', which involves players standing in a line as a sign of respect at the champions enter the playing field.

However, Barça refused to do this for Zinedine Zidane's side when they won the Club World Cup in December, causing outrage in the Los Blancos camp. Real Madrid are expected to snub the courtesy, in the belief that the tradition was broken by their rivals. It is certainly set to be a heated affair when the two sides meet, with relations between the teams remaining fractious.

Real Madrid will face Atlético Madrid in a local derby this afternoon, as they look to finish their season on a high. After an appalling early season showing, Los Blancos are now 16 points off league leaders Barcelona. However, Zidane side's form has improved considerably in recent weeks, and could still pull off a third Champions League title on the bounce in May.