Ramos: Pique gives everything

Sergio Ramos has defended Spain teammate Gerard Pique, the subject of whistling in recent internationals. “He gives everything on the pitch.”

Pique was again targeted as La Roja beat Slovakia in Oviedo on Saturday and November’s friendly with England was on Monday moved to Alicante from Madrid with the suggestion the likely response to Pique’s presence was the reason.

“We’re here to represent our country, Spain, and we need to be together. Pique gives everything on the pitch,” Ramos told reporters, according to Marca.

“We all know Pique. He won’t change now and there’s no point getting into an assessment of how successful he’s been over the last few years. We’re here to represent our country.

“The whistles don’t benefit anyone. We come to the national team to do our best and the less said about this subject the better, because we just encourage it by talking about it.”

Ramos moved on to talk about the match itself and Spain’s objectives, not just for Euro 2016 qualification but the tournament itself.

“The goal is finding the best way to play. It’s difficult to choose between players, who all start for their teams, and you can’t assume a role in the national team,” he noted.

“The group is comfortable and there’s a great atmosphere, which helps.

“We want to see Spain with an identity and mastery of the game. The result [against Slovakia] was favourable. The goal is to beat Macedonia and be virtually through to the European Championships.

“We want to keep winning. We don’t live in the past. There’s a new team with a base fortunate to have been part of the best team in the world.

“We’re here to convey what we’ve experienced. It’s nice to compete with the best teams and be high up the rankings. The philosophy hasn’t changed. We try to meet our objectives and fight for an important competition.”

Tags Gerard Pique Sergio Ramos Spain
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