Gerard Pique has been impressed with Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez in training and is looking forward to tonight’s Clasico.
Suarez is able to make his Barca debut this evening against Real Madrid in Santiago Bernabeu having been banned for four months for biting Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
Pique has been interviewed by the Guardian and recalled what it was like when Suarez first trained with the rest of the Barca squad after having to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to be allowed to do so.
The original terms of the suspension prevented Suarez from ‘all football related activity,’ in which training was included, although he was still able to complete a move from Liverpool to Barca.
“When he first arrived he couldn’t play and hadn’t trained, and was dead after 10 minutes,” Pique revealed.
“I was saying: ‘What happened to you, man?’ But after two or three weeks he started getting fitter, and now he’s ready.
“In training he’s unbelievable. He has got something. From nothing he can score. He is a different style of player to those we had before.”
Pique added that this meeting of Madrid and Barca may have the greatest star power of any past fixture, with the likes of Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez.
“Years ago Barcelona had Ronaldo, and Madrid had Raul, but to have three each of this kind of quality? No,” Pique replied when asked if he had ever known a Clasico like it.
“They are strong. Real’s frontline are really quick and powerful. [Gareth] Bale and Cristiano, the wingers, can smash and destroy you if you are not careful.
“Benzema receives the balls and brings others into the game.
“But the main thing for us is to be careful when we have the ball because that is when we are open and, if we lose it, they start to run, they play long balls and it’s really difficult to catch them.”
