Last Updated: 24th April 2012
BARCELONA defender Gerard Pique last night challenged Didier Drogba to stay on his feet in tonight’s Nou Camp face-off.
Drogba infuriated Barca during Chelsea’s 1-0 Champions League semi-final first-leg win last week.
The striker was widely criticised for the amount of time he spent rolling around on the pitch, with Manchester United star Wayne Rooney tweeting: “Drogba. You’re a good player but pls get up.”
And former United centre-back Pique says that for the sake of fair play, he has to believe Drogba is genuinely hurt every time he hits the deck.
Pique said: “I believe every time Drogba fell down it was because he was in pain or he felt a kick and thought it was dangerous or something. I don’t think he was trying to act or dive.
“If that was not the case, we’ll start to talk about football being all about cheats.
“We have to keep fair play and all the good things in the game — and diving and cheating are not good.”
Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo has urged his stars to put the team ahead of any potential final bans.
Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires, Raul Meireles and David Luiz are one yellow card away from missing the May 19 decider in Munich.
But Di Matteo said: “The lads can’t be worrying about that. They have to fulfil their responsibilities to the team.”
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