England friendly against Spain moved due to Gerard Pique booing?

By Tom Nightingale, Reporter | 07 September 2015

The venue for England's friendly against Spain in November is reportedly changed in an attempt to avoid Gerard Pique receiving a hostile reception from Spanish fans.

England's friendly against Spain in November has been moved from the Bernabeu to Alicante due to fears over Spanish fans booing Gerard Pique, according to a report.

Roy Hodgson's side will now take on the European champions at the Jose Rico Perez stadium instead of the home of Real Madrid on Friday, November 13.

Madrid-based outlet AS claim that the change in venue has been made because of fears that Barcelona defender Pique, who publicly supports Catalan independence from Spain, would have received too hostile a reception at the home of Barca's arch-rivals.

Pique has previously been the subject of boos and whistles from Real Madrid fans as a result of comments that he made about the club during Barcelona's La Liga and Europen Supercup victory parades, and he was booed once again when Spain took on Slovakia in Oviedo in Euro 2016 qualifying on Saturday.

The report also claims that the former Manchester United centre-back is said to be reconsidering his involvement with the Spanish national side after the apparent worsening of the relationship between himself and a section of the country's fans.

Perhaps fortunately for Pique, Spain face away trips to Luxembourg and Ukraine in their last two Euro 2016 qualifiers in October.