By Jim James
This afternoon, getting ready to start one of 4 posts I have in the woodwork, I got one of the biggest out-of-nowhere surprises I have ever got in my 7 years watching the game. Gerard Pique put up a 2-minute video on his twitter, and I thought originally it was to announce he was leaving the club after the season, but no. After watching the full thing, I realized that he was leaving Barcelona and retiring after the world cup break at the age of 35. So here is a post remembering his career at Barcelona.
Gerard Pique Bernabeu grew up into a Football loving and Barcelona loving family. He was born in Barcelona, and joined the club a quarter-century ago at the age of 10. He spent the first 7 years of his footballing education at Barcelona before leaving the club for Man Utd in 2004. During this period he gained some disdain from Barcelona fans for getting 7 years of La Masia education then leaving.
However, after 4 years and a loan spell at Real Zaragoza, in 2008, Pique made his return and became an occasional starter before getting the starting gig more in 09-10, making an iconic partnership with Carles Puyol before being called up for the World Cup and winning it.
Pique did a great job as the padawan of Carles Puyol until his retirement in 2014, winning 2 Champions Leagues, 4 La Ligas, and 2 Copa del Reys in that span, also being part of Pep Guardiola’s prime Barca. Once Puyol retired, Pique took the reigns of being the leading center-back seemingly flawlessly. He partnered up with Javier Macherano and occasionally Jeremy Mathieu in the 14-15 season and Barcelona won the treble.
While Barcelona wasn’t as successful in 15-16, they did take the domestic league and cup, and once again Pique was the star center-back. After Mascherano’s departure, Barcelona signed a revolving door of center-backs to parter Pique, with all of Samuel Umtiti, Marlon, Yerry Mina, Thomas Vermaelen, Clement Lenglet, Jean-Clair Todibo, Jeison Murillo, Ronald Araujo, Oscar Mingueza, Eric Garcia, Andreas Christensen and Jules Kounde. Pique stood firm through all of this and won even more trophies with the club.
No matter what happened in the club, Gerard Pique was always there. He was there in the golden age and the dark times, always ready to take the blame and stick up for the club. When I think of Gerard Pique, I don’t think of one moment, I think of many brilliant moments throughout a long and storied career, and most of all, his loyalty toward Barcelona.
In total, he won 36 senior trophies, including 4 Champions leagues, 9 league titles, and 8 domestic cups. He will always be among the legendary Barcelona players when you look back on it, and he will be back. Will it be as the President, Sporting Director, Manager? Who knows. However, his chapter at Barcelona as a player has been one of the most successful of anyone in history.
Thank you Gerard Pique, and good luck.