"It's tough for Real to see Barça win so much"

In an exclusive interview with Catalan paper 'Sport', Gerard Piqué lashed out at what he perceives as targeted attacks on Barcelona and took a swipe at Real Madrid, accusing them of sour grapes in the face of Barça's success.

"We're being attacked from all sides. There comes a time when you have to say enough is enough", Piqué argued.

Asked about the alleged smear campaign against Leo Messi, the defender stated: "There are laws and rules and someone is responsible for meting out justice. At a certain point it becomes too much. Someone needs to mete out justice. A lot of crap is being levelled at Messi".

"We'll see who wins the Ballon d'Or. The cards are on the table and the votes have been cast, so whoever wins, it will be because they were meant to win it and they deserve it", the former Man United man claimed.

"It's tough for Real Madrid to see its rival win so much. We went through the same thing a while back. It's a bitch. But you have to accept that's the way it is: you win some, you lose some. These things go in cycles and Barça is on top right now. It's a historic rivalry and you always want your rival to do worse than you", he stated.

"We built something very important with Guardiola, which was about pressing high up, winning the ball halfway through the opposition half and scoring quickly from that position. That's something we need to keep up as far as possible. We're not good at defending in the box when we're ahead; pressing is our best form of defence", the centre-back concluded.