On October 1 in Barcelona, ??an illegal referendum was held in the opinion of the Spanish authorities, with the help of which the Catalans tried to achieve independence.

On the eve of these events the "blue-garnet" bey openly supported the idea of ??a referendum, for which he was criticized as captain of the Spanish national team Sergio Ramos, as well as by ordinary fans.

Piquet himself believes that he simply exercised his right to freedom of speech. At the same time Gerard is ready to leave the Spanish national team, if there is such a need.

"In the time of Franco we did not have the opportunity to express our thoughts, right now I have such a right," said Piquet.

"I'm Catalan and very proud of my people. I know that in Spain many people condemn the actions of the authorities to disrupt the referendum and support democracy ".

"As for me, I'm ready to leave the team before the World Cup 2018, if the head coach of the team or one of the leaders of the federation of football consider me a problem", - quotes Girard AS.

The holding of the referendum was in fact thwarted by Spanish law enforcement agencies, which entered into clashes with hundreds of disgruntled citizens. According to reports, about 90 percent of local residents voted for the independence of Catalonia, but these results are unlikely to be taken into account by the authorities of Spain.

Earlier, Piquet said that he was happy to call the national team.