However, BT Sport pundits Ian Wright and Ronald Koeman were less than convinced.
"I think so, yeah," Wright said when asked if it was deliberate. "You've got to do it. You see how Pique plays for them, he's got to be there in the latter stages.
"He's [Enrique] not going to come out and say he told his players to get a yellow card."
Southampton boss (and former Barcelona defender) Koeman agreed.
Koeman said: "For sure he took it. It's not a tackle that you do at 2-0 up."
Uefa can hand down a two-match suspension under Article 15 of its disciplinary regulations for any player that purposefully gets booked.
And it has happened before. In 2010, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso were sent off in Real Madrid's Champions League group game against Ajax, with Real already 4-0 up.
They each earned a yellow card for time wasting, picked up a suspension for the final group game and therefore a clean slate for the knockout phase.
Then Real boss Jose Mourinho was handed a suspended two-game ban and £35,000 fine, while the players were fined £18,000 each.
Arsenal vs Barcelona timeline February 23 2016
- Telegraph