Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has announced his retirement from football after Saturday’s match at the Camp Nou. The 35-year-old, who spent four years at Manchester United after moving to Barcelona, made the announcement in a video. Publish on social networks. In Piqué’s final match, Barça will face La Liga Almeria. “I have always said that there is no other team than Barça and there will be no team,” he said. Piqué was a Barca youth player until 2004 when he signed for Manchester United. After winning his Premier League and Champions League titles in 2007-08, he was a winger for the Red He Devils when he returned to the Catalan Giants in 2008. During his time at Barcelona, he made over 600 appearances and won his 30 trophies, including 8 La Liga titles, 3 Champions League his trophies and 7 Copa del Rey his titles. Barcelona have been relegated from the Champions League this season and he is second in La Liga, one point behind Real Madrid. Piqué retired from international football in 2018 after recording his 102 caps with the Spanish national team, winning the 2012 European Championship and the 2010 World Cup he won. “Football gave me everything, Barça gave me everything, the fans gave me everything. “And now that all this child’s dreams have come true, I want to tell you that it’s time to end this journey. He also hinted that Barça will return to the famous pitch: see you at the Camp Nou! Long live Barça. ever. ” Barcelona has £1 billion in debt. In the summer, the Barça members who own the club decided to allow president Joan Laporta to take the unusual step of so-called financial leverage to secure large cash transfers. However, many players, including Piquet, were asked for significant pay cuts to help the club. However, Barça have yet to reach the lucrative knockout stages of the Champions League this season and further cuts are expected. Piqué owns second-tier Spanish club Andorra and is also a businessman outside of football. He is the founder and chairman of Cosmos Tennis, which inked his $3 billion partnership with the International Tennis Federation in 2018. In June, Piqué announced his separation from his partner with whom he has two children, singer Shakira.
According to Spanish football expert Guillem Balaguer, he’s ready to walk away from a contract worth around €40m that runs until 2024, but not the amount the club owes him over the summer. It’s surprising that Piqué has done it now, but not when you consider that the club made him the bad guy by overpaying and pressuring him to lower his wages. He is his fifth choice at centre-back and he knows it. Piqué has always said he will retire when he can no longer bow to Barcelona. He also admits that the club legend got a bad rap when the club started making “bad” songs. The situation with club president Joan Laporta has been strained lately, with Xavi continuing to play with him only when absolutely necessary. Piquet, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets had big deals worth around €250 million. Alba is alone as Busquets heads to Inter Miami. Piqué is now coming out on his own terms, and LaPorta noticed that Piqué kept the whole thing very quiet minutes before the video was released. He bids farewell to the legend of the Conqueror, who was in many ways his own man, contributing greatly to the performance of perhaps the best team in the world. Now he’s finally heading to America to understand his heart and life and build his comeback as the club’s president.
