The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Gerard Pique

  • Let’s kill off Man Utd tonight, Barcelona’s Pique tells teammates

    Gerard Pique warned former side Manchester United that Barcelona will put the tie to bed if they get the chance in Wednesday’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg.

    Pique, who spent four years at United as a youngster, returns to Old Trafford this week for the first time since moving back to Barca in 2008.

    Barca start the tie as favourites but United come into the clash buoyed by an impressive comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in the last round.

    Pique says he watched both games against PSG and urged his teammates to take the chances which come their way to avoid suffering the same fate as the French champions.

    “I think the PSG tie is a great example,” the defender said in a news conference on Tuesday. “I think [at Old Trafford], PSG played better. In the second half they scored and could have scored more.

    “But you can’t leave United alive. If you can beat them [by] scoring a lot of goals, you have to do it.

    “They have a great history and they showed that in Paris, even with a lot of young lads from the academy.

    “It’s a great example for us. We have to be switched on from the first minute until the last.”

    Read also: Keita, Firmino give Liverpool 2-0 win over FC Porto

    Pique, 32, spent his formative years at United under Sir Alex Ferguson.

    The Premier League side’s form has suffered since Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 but Pique still believes they’re England’s best club despite currently sitting sixth in the Premier League.

    “Since I played here, they have always been one of England’s great teams,” he added.

    “Obviously, teams have ups and downs and moments of transition but they’re the biggest team in England.

    “They consider the Premier League the same as the Champions League here — if not more important — and since the Ferguson era they’ve been the biggest team and will keep on being the biggest team. Things aren’t [going as well at the moment] but I hope they change and quickly they get back on top.

    “I spent several years here, between 17 and 21, my first as a professional. I played in good games alongside great players and also had some crazy times off the pitch.

    “I left my family and friends to come here and I returned to Barcelona an adult. It’s a special game for me.”

    Pique was briefly teammates with current United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during his time at United and he has fond memories of the Norwegian, who has turned the English side’s fortunes around since replacing Jose Mourinho in December.

  • Pique to pump £2.35bn into revamped Davis Cup

    A controversial revamp of the Davis Cup format has been voted through at the International Tennis Federation’s AGM.

    In November next year the competition will see 18 nations compete in a week-long, round-robin tournament.

    The overhaul of the 118-year-old competition was rubber-stamped despite the Lawn Tennis Association, the governing body of British tennis, announcing on Wednesday that it opposed the changes.

    ITF President David Haggerty said in a statement: ‘I am delighted that the nations have voted to secure the long-term status of Davis Cup.

    ‘Our mission is to ensure that this historic decision will benefit the next generation of players for decades to come.’

    The ITF outlined the changes in conjunction with Kosmos, a company founded and chaired by Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique, who will spend $3 billion (£2.35bn) over 25 years on the new event.

    The Davis Cup is currently played in February, April, September and November at home and away venues.

    However, an increasing number of top players have opted not to play in recent years due to the hectic schedule.

    From next year the 18 countries will be divided into six groups with each qualifying round consisting of three matches – two singles and one doubles – of best-of-three sets.

    The top teams from each group and the two highest-scoring runners-up will play the quarter-finals on the Friday, with the semi-finals on Saturday and the final held on Sunday.

    In explaining its decision to vote against the changes, the LTA said in a statement: ‘Concerns remain that the proposed format and its impact on the tennis calendar, extending the season for players, risks player participation and therefore fan appeal.’

    Great Britain, who won the Davis Cup in 2015, face Uzbekistan in a world group play-off in Glasgow next month.

     

     

     

  • Messi succeeds Iniesta, named new FC Barcelona captain

    FC Barcelona on Friday named Argentina’s Lionel Messi the club’s captain, following the departure of long-serving midfielder Andres Iniesta.

    Defenders Gerard Pique and Sergi Roberto were also named new vice-captains in a statement by the La Liga champions.

    Messi, Barca’s all-time top goalscorer, has been a vice-captain since 2015.

    The Argentina captain takes the club’s armband from Iniesta, who succeeded Xavi Hernandez as captain in 2015 but left for Japanese club Vissel Kobe in June.

    Midfielder Sergio Busquets was named first vice-captain, followed by Pique, who has been at FC Barcelona since 2008.

    Read Also: Messi trains with dog ahead of new season

    It’s the first time Pique has been named a vice-captain at the club.

    Academy graduate Roberto took the final position, vacated by Javier Mascherano who left earlier this year for Chinese outfit Hebei China Fortune.

    Roberto’s elevation is in spite of his only being a first team regular for three seasons.

    It is the first time since the 2014/2015 season that all the club’s four captains have come through the club’s famous La Masia youth academy.

    NAN

  • Pique pens new deal with £441m buyout clause

    Pique pens new deal with £441m buyout clause

     

    Gerard Pique hopes to see out his playing days at Barcelona after signing a contract extension that ties him to the club until the summer of 2022.

    The Spain international will be 35 when this contract extension expires and insists he only ever saw his future at the Nou Camp, saying it is ‘Barca or nothing’.

    Pique’s new deal includes a buyout clause of £441.6m, but that is academic to a player who never wants to leave.

    ‘I’m very happy to have renewed my contract and I hope it will not be the last,’ he said on Monday. ‘If I complete my contract I will have been at Barca for 14 years, plus another six or seven in the youth teams.

    ‘I’ve been a socio (member) since I was born, Barca feels like home, it’s the club of my life. I always felt that I was going to stay and I never thought about anything else.

    ‘And I hope to stay for life. Obviously I’ve thought about my family and my kids, who don’t want to move. But in the career I’ve had here, we’ve almost always won something and we’ve competed until the end.

    ‘And I hope we continue being competitive until I retire.

    ‘I’m not interested in playing for another team. If I wasn’t wearing the Barca shirt, I would have given up. I play football because I play for Barca. It’s Barca or nothing.’

    After signing his new deal, he summed his love for the club up by saying it is ‘Barca or nothing’

    Having come up through the youth ranks with Barcelona, Pique returned to his home-town club in 2008 after four years on

    Manchester United’s books and in the last decade has won 24 titles with the Catalan giants.

    The former Barca youth player – who began his junior career in 1997, aged 10 – moved to Old Trafford in 2004 before spending time on loan at Real Zaragoza. He rejoined his boyhood club under Pep Guardiola in 2008.

    At Barca he has scored 37 goals from 425 appearances and has won three Champions Leagues, six La Liga titles, five Copa del Reys, five Spanish Super Cups, three Club World Cups and two European Super Cups.

    The defender also won the World Cup with Spain in 2010 and the European Championship in 2012.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Pique in tears over violent clashes in Barcelona

    Pique in tears over violent clashes in Barcelona

     

    Barcelona’s Gerard Pique was reduced to tears by the images of police brutality against people trying to vote in a referendum in Catalonia on Sunday.

    More than 850 people were injured when riot police stopped people accessing polling stations in the referendum declared illegal by Spain’s ruling Partido Popular.

    And Pique said playing in an empty Nou Camp after the club decided to play behind closed doors was the worst experience of his career.

    Filling up with tears, he said: ‘There was no act of aggression from the people today and yet the police have acted in the way that they have acted today.’

    Barcelona asked for the game to be called off but they were told they would forfeit the points and be given a further three point deduction and so they decided to play without supporters in protest.

    ‘It was very difficult to play without our supporters and after all that has happened throughout Catalonia. It was my worst experience as a player,’ Pique said.

    ‘Grandparents have gone with their grandchildren today and have tried to vote and the images speak for themselves.

    ‘All the protests have been non-violent but everyone has seen the way police reacted today and I think there will be consequences.’

    Pique would not confirm he was one of the voices in the dressing room that wanted to the game to be postponed. He said: ‘There were arguments to play the game today, just as there were arguments to not play the game.

    ‘In the end the league and Las Palmas wanted to play the game. There were all sorts of opinions and in the end the club made the decision to play the game.’

    Asked if he would have played the game had it been his decision, he added: ‘My opinion doesn’t matter very much. Lots of players expressed an opinion before the game. The club decided to play and we united behind that decision.

  • Pique back for Copa del Rey semis

    Pique back for Copa del Rey semis

    Gerard Pique looks good for a place in the semi finals of the Copa del Rey on Tuesday after joining in training Monday. This is considered a major boost for Barcelona ahead of the showdown against Athletico Madrid.

    The centre-back was forced off at half-time of the 3-0 LaLiga win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday after picking up a muscle problem.

    Head coach Luis Enrique said the injury was simply a result of their hectic fixture schedule but there had been concerns that Pique would be unable to face Atleti at Camp Nou.

    However, the Spain international trained in full with team-mates on Monday and it looks likely that he will be available at least for the matchday squad.

    Barca hold a 2-1 lead from the first leg thanks to goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, although Antoine Griezmann’s second-half header gave Atletico a lifeline.