The images that emerged from Catalonia yesterday as Spain's Guardia Civil violently cracked down on aspiring voters in a Catalan Independence ballot have reverberated around the globe and shocked many.
While that was occurring on the streets of Spain's North East province, Barcelona were playing in front of an empty Camp Nou in a 3-0 win over Las Palmas on Sunday after trying and failing to get the match postponed without sanction.
Speaking post-match with his emotions in full view, native Catalan and Barcelona defender Gerard Pique suggested that he will quit the Spain national team if his pro-Catalan independence views are deemed a problem.
Listen to the full discussion on the podcast player:
Our European football correspondent Graham Hunter is based in Barcelona and joined us to share an insight on what happened on Sunday.
"Once it became clear that the league was saying, 'We cannot and will not prejudice other clubs like Las Palmas, we cannot and will not postpone a game which is set against the backdrop of, judicially, an illegal referendum," said Graham of the machinations behind the scenes before Barcelona eventually decided to go ahead with their fixture.
"At the end of the match, although Gerard Pique played very well, you know now that he broke down crying which is simply extraordinary. One of the toughest guys, one of the meanest minded guys, with a huge amount of brash self confidence and success, for him to be so emotional and overcome about having had to play, about having seen these scenes of thuggish, jack-boot, baton-wielding, rubber bullet-firing national cops, to see him distraught like that tells you to look for a unity of vision or decision or comprehension at FC Barcelona right now is a thankless task."
But the decision to play the game has still led to criticism of the Barcelona board from some quarters as Graham explained.
And he touched on the outrageous scenes from Catalonia that were played out across the globe on our TV and tablet screens.
"It literally felt to me like the kind of thing you'd watch on the history channel. Jack-booted, thuggish behaviour by cops sent from the central parts of Spain. I'm certain the government didn't say, 'Lay into them with boot and batons' but they did, from the old to the young to the injured to the people who needed to be treated and were being helped and those helpers were being attacked. But what happened in this city and around Catalunya was just utterly unacceptable. I think it was criminal behaviour and if Gerard Pique feels that to his bones, why wouldn't he speak out and I couldn't have predicted that it could break him. He's a hard man, genuinely a hard man."
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