Gerard Pique, as his is custom, made headlines for comments about Real Madrid two weeks ago after telling the press that ‘nobody would remember’ their most recent Champions League victory. In 2021, Los Blancos secured the European Cup in epic fashion after beating Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool on the way.
It inflamed Real Madrid supporters, but also got a response out of Carlo Ancelotti, Dani Carvajal and Joselu Mato, with the latter accusing him of jealousy. Pique explained that his comment was deliberately incendiary to a degree.
“Whomever wants to understand it, will understand it, and whomever doesn’t, will not. It was sort of part of the game, and then you knew that the whole week they would be talking about it.”
The retired Barcelona defender has a habit of winding up Madridistas, and said that his comments were mostly focused on the style of play.
“I don’t want to take away any merit from Real Madrid, nor obviously from Real Madrid’s Champions League. From there, how do you win. And that’s where the debate comes in,”
“This is obvious and we can debate it because in the end this is football. It can be debated in many ways. In the last one that Real Madrid wins, in 2021, it is evident that in all the two-legged ties plus the final, in none of them is Real Madrid superior to the rival. And then we can get into that, and talk for three hours about it,” Pique explained.
Debated by radio presenter Manu Carreno, Pique admitted that he should have toned down his statements.
“Well, I shall qualify my statements. That is, they are not going to remember it for the game, they are going to remember it for other things. Five minutes they were better at the Bernabeu, but that is enough for them. And this is the greatness of Real Madrid. And it’s incredible, because it seems like it’s a shot at them, but it isn’t. That five minutes is enough for you to win the Champions League semi-finals, which I think was the match against City, is a good thing,”
“I’ll tell you now, never in your life have you seen Barca get through a tie for by well for five minutes,” Pique explained on Cadena SER.
While it takes little to create an irate debate in the Spanish football media, Pique certainly enjoys injecting a little spice into matters, and in particular understands that football is an entertainment industry – at times that can lead his mouth astray, as he has admitted in the past.