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Gerard Piqué offered his first interview after announcing his retirement as a professional soccer player. In a chat with the influencer River Llanosthe former player discussed the decision to hang up his boots, his farewell at the Camp Nouthe affection of the fans, his future within the Barcelona and revealed a funny anecdote with Pep Guardiola During his time as coach of the Blaugrana.
On the streamer’s Twitch channel, the 35-year-old man recounted the details of a decision that matured over time: “There are many reasons that one thinks about as the season goes by. Xavi told me that this year it would be difficult. I wanted to try it. The sensations from the beginning were not the best in general. I saw that the break was an opportunity to make that decision. I always said that when I didn’t feel important I would leave it. There were games that I had not played and after the game I had to train. I felt disoriented. There was a day when I was about to go to the locker room and say: ‘It’s over‘. I did not finish feeling that it was my place”.
“The fact that there were injuries in my position caused me to delay all this. He couldn’t leave the team at that point. I set the break as the deadline because after the World Cup all my teammates would be recovered, ”he said in reference to the temporary casualties of Andreas Christensen y Jules Koundebrand new reinforcements of the institution for this season.
One of the founding members of the group Kosmos He said that he will face an act with the president of the club, John Laporta, this Thursday and will give the last shirt he wore to the museum of the institution. The same one that he used in his farewell from the Camp Nou with a 2-0 victory against Almeria: “It was spectacular. I did not expect what happened. I didn’t give it the importance that I later realized. It is greatly appreciated and you realize how much people love and appreciate you. I will be linked to the club all my life. I left very happy.”
*Gerard Piqué’s departure in his last match at the Camp Nou
In addition, he expressed: “I look back and I have made a spectacular trip. Getting up in the morning, representing the club of my life, winning absolutely everything. It was living it, I couldn’t expect anything else. I have squeezed every day of my life.”
In the last order, he almost definitely ruled out his return to the courts in the club he presides over and plays in the second division of Spain: “Never, never, I’m not going to say it, but 99% say I’ll never play for Andorra.”
In the midst of a career as long as it was successful, the businessman referred to the role of soccer and society, in some way linking his words to the criticism he received for his nightly escapades: “They have to understand that players are people too. You are not a robot that only trains, eats and sleeps. We need to have a social life and party. Everything has a balance in life. I have known how to take care of myself to have a career like this. You have to go out at 20 and at 21, it’s mandatory to party. If you don’t party for five years, there’s something dark. Everything at one end is bad.”
After these statements Pique relaxed to address an old memory that happened on May 30, 2009. A Barcelona that had won the treble (League, Copa del Rey, and Champions League) had to close the domestic tournament as a visitor to Sporting La Coruna. There, Guardiola gave him a single order that he could not comply with.
“Never in my life have I left before a game. The only time was when we won the first treble and went to La Coruña to play. Pep told me not to go out because he was going to play. I obviously got out. And I got injured in the 60th minute.told with laughter about a modification that included the entry of Alberto Botia -Currently playing on Al-Wehda of Saudi Arabia– in a match that ended 1-1.
“I have played to the limit all my life and I will continue to do so. I always broadened the rules a little more. It has brought me problems but I knew what I was exposing myself to”, he concluded, in a note in which he did not refer to his separation from Shakira, after 12 years as a couple and two children (Sasha and Milan) as a result.
Other definitions of Gerard Pique
His future at Barcelona: “Sometime I would like to be president. I don’t have it in my head right now. I enjoyed my career, but now I have the freedom to focus on other things. In the future, I would like to be able to help exploit the potential of the club of my life”.
The expulsion of Jesús Gil Manzano in his last game with Barcelona: “The arbitration harmed us. The first yellow from Robert (Lewandowski) is not, there is no corner, then the foul on Marcos Alonso. Not that they are dubious plays. I went to talk to the referee, I went to comment on several plays and you can see in the video that I entered the tunnel and told him that it always hurts us. I don’t insult him at any time, but he expels me. He points me in the tunnel and expels me. I said nothing. The record does not lie. Already expelled, I enter the locker room. The referee’s locker room is next door and one of my teammates says the sentence inside. I did not go”.
His possible call to play the 2022 Qatar World Cup with Spain: “I didn’t talk to anyone from the national team. If I would accept the call? (Laughter). I don’t know when the list comes out. I haven’t thought about it.”
The antagonistic changes that he proposes in football: “You don’t have to play 90 minutes. It can be 50 or 60 minutes, but it can be about not being able to stop watching television. Let’s look for rules that are more entertaining. The football product is outdated. It is difficult to capture the young public. That does not mean that football is the king of sports. We must try to modify rules that have been established for many years. It’s hard. It happens in all sports. You have to find a way to attract attention. I would make very radical changes. You don’t have to try it in a Barcelona-Real Madrid, try it in the minor categories. Ideas are created based on trial and error. 11 against 11, an extension of 30 minutes. Say that every three minutes a player from each team leaves. Until there is a golden goal. Penalties are very exciting… I like them, but the best don’t pass. Anyone can pass.”
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