Revealed: Why Pique held off retirement to help Barcelona
Suraj Radia
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
- 3 min read
Gerard Pique has revealed the reasons behind his retirement from Barcelona and laughed off suggestions that he could play for another club such as Atletico Madrid.
Pique played his last game at Camp Nou against Almeria, receiving a standing ovation when he was subbed off, before ending his career by getting sent-off against Osasuna for abusing the referee despite being on the bench.
The 35-year-old claimed a decision over his future was always planning to be made before the World Cup and that he wanted to retire sooner but didn’t want to leave Barca short-handed after receiving injuries to key players.
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“I always said that when I didn't feel important I would leave it," Pique told Marca. "The fact that there were injuries in my position made me delay all this.
"There were games that I hadn't played and after the game I had to train... and I felt disoriented.
“There was one day that I was about to go to the locker room and say: "It's over". I didn't quite feel that it was my place.
“When they got injured, I did say that I couldn't leave the team at that time. I set the break as the deadline because after the World Cup all my teammates would be recovered."
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Pique also revealed his interest in becoming Barcelona’s president one day, however he would not join another club and would have retired if his contract had not been renewed.
Atletico Madrid were among the sides linked with a move to Pique but the defender mocked the speculation and insisted he would never wear another shirt other than Barcelona’s.
"Me training with Cholo [Diego Simeone]...the one who created the news that he could sign for Atlético is that he has no f***ing idea.
“It's a crazy thing. I'm never going to wear the shirt of another team other than Barça Just Atlético... if you tell me a team that tries to play the ball from behind, a Betis... but hey, this news came out and it made me laugh.”
"I think that at some point I will want to be president of Barcelona. Right now I don't have it in my head," Pique added. “At 28, 29 years old, if Barça told me that they would not renew me, I would have retired. I had no other motivation.”
