In an interview with RAC1, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has praised the club’s youth policy.
Furthermore, the Spanish international believes the Catalan giants would not be able to compete with eternal rivals Real Madrid without bringing their own youngsters through the system.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have all the people from the youth team come through. It will always be very difficult for Barca to compete with Real Madrid but what is the cost to Madrid?” asked Pique.
“At Barcelona there have been a lot of key players that have played for the first team at no cost. If it had not have been like that then we couldn’t have competed for so many titles.
“[Pep] Guardiola was aware La Masia meant everything and now with Tito [Vilanova] we have another Pep.
“On an economic level we can’t compete with Madrid because of all the money they generate.”
Pique also spoke about his own personal future with Barca, although with tongue slightly in cheek.
“Before becoming Coach I’d like to be President. I’d like to see things more from a distance. I’ve always liked the business side of things and been very tied to this club,” he said, before commenting on the rivalry for the Ballon d’Or between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Messi is an extra-terrestrial and Cristiano is the best of the humans. Messi is the best. We have to take advantage of that and adapt ourselves to him so we can get the best out of the team.
“With the Ballon d’Or I wouldn’t vote for myself because I don’t think I’ve been the best,” said Pique, referring to Ronaldo’s recent comments in an interview with France Football. “However, to vote for another person other than Leo would be very difficult for me.”
Finally, he referred to David Navarro’s elbow on Cristiano Ronaldo in the Levante-Madrid clash at the weekend.
“I don’t know what happened so I don’t really want to say anything. It’s happened many times before and when you’ve played for so many years it can occur once or twice, but not so many times.
“Of the Levante player I don’t know too much so I can’t give an opinion, but it’s true that it always seems to be the same people involved so I think they need to take steps to sort out.
“I don’t know what they can do because I’m not on the committee and I’m not someone who can decide this, but they have to take some steps when it happens such a lot.”
