Gerard Pique has revealed how he was pulled over for drink driving while a Manchester United player but he managed to trick his way past the blood test.
The central defender gave the interview to YouTuber Jordi Wild on The Wild Project, making the extraordinary revelation of how he used an urban myth to escape further punishment. Pique spent four years at Manchester United before joining Barcelona, aged 21.
He explained how this incident took place when he was a 20-year-old and used it as an ‘example’ of the sort of lifestyle he had at the time. He was speaking of how going out partying has given him so many anecdotes throughout his career, although this revelation is likely to prove particularly eye-raising.
Pique explains how the incident started after he had been out partying and was driving having consumed alcohol. Pique explained: "I had been drinking and then driving – so I skipped a red light, and the police stopped me. They made me blow into a machine to tell me if it was positive or negative, but in Spain I was used to just getting a number. Before I knew it, I was handcuffed and in the police car. All of a sudden, I sobered up! The whole time I was thinking, ‘damn, what is going on’?"
The footballer had failed the breathalyser test, but police informed him he would now need to go with them in order to conduct further tests for alcohol in the bloodstream. He was placed in handcuffs and taken to the police station where he would undergo blood tests.
“They told me the machine was very precise and if I was over 0.25 there would be a quick trial," Pique added. At this juncture, he feared the worst for how this story would end for him.
Pique was brought to the police station and informed that if he failed the machine which indicated levels of alcohol in the blood, he would spend the night in jail and a speedy hearing would be conducted to hear his case and potential punishment. The defender was very worried at the time.
It is at this juncture that the story becomes even more incredible – with Pique remembering that he had been told an urban legend that sucking on coins meant that the blood alcohol level was lowered. He goes on to say that he had pennies in his pocket, so he put them in his mouth and sucked in a desperate act to trick the machine. The defender claims that this was an extraordinarily stroke of luck as he had not given these to the police when entering the cell, when handing over his mobile phone and other items in his pockets. So he sucked the coins and the alcohol level did not meet the threshold for him to be retained.
He admits: "I put all the coins inside my mouth and started sucking them. It was tremendously disgusting – imagine doing that now with Covid?" The alcohol level did not meet the threshold for him to be retained - so he was released.
Pique then finalises the story by claiming that such was the luck he was feeling due to this episode, he instructed the taxi driver to take him to the casino rather than going back home. He claims his luck ran out at this point, as he lost a volume of money he cannot remember.
He explains that “this was one of the crazy days, but I could tell 3,000 more." Pique finalised the story by adding that Sir Alex Ferguson, his manager at United, had been informed about the episode. “Ferguson found out – someone from the police told him about it. He told me that he wanted me to know that he knew - but nothing more was spoken about it.”
Pique has documented driving offences in Spain, as outlined by Football Espana. In November 2018, fined €48k for driving whilst having no points on his license while in October 2014, the former Spain international was fined €10.5k following an altercation with an officer. Prior to these incidents, in 2011, the defender was caught holding his son in his arms instead of having him on a designated child-seat.
