PIQUE: MADRID DIDN'T MAKE GUARD OF HONOUR SO I ASKED BARCA STAFF

Gerard Pique said he asked Barcelona's staff to provide a guard of honour after bitter rivals Real Madrid refused.

There were no surprises as Madrid carried out their intention of refusing to honour unbeaten LaLiga champions Barca prior to Sunday's entertaining 2-2 draw at Camp Nou.

Zinedine Zidane's men shunned the pre-match guard of honour – known as a 'pasillo' in Spain – after Barca's snub following Madrid's Club World Cup triumph in December.

Barca, though, found a novel way of honouring themselves post-match, thanks to star defender Pique.

"As we are a family, and they didn't want to give us a guard of honour, I've asked our staff to make one," Pique said.