The match between Barça and Almería will be a tribute from the Barça fans to the central defender who marked an era at the club
Barcelona are playing a game today at Camp Nou that has been a spontaneous tribute to Gerard Pique since last Thursday. The 35-year-old defender plays the last game in front of his crowd before hanging up his boots in the winter market, in front of an audience that hopes to be one of the last active exponents of the ‘Pep Team’, the magical team that conquered everything through the hands of Guardiola. It will be the farewell of a player who has spent practically his entire career as a culé and who says goodbye to the club of his life and forgives an important economic figure.
“I don’t know if I’ve been honest with Pique. I know I’ve been honest, fair and honest with the message and with what I believed. That’s how I’ve always let you know. In the end, the footballer always feels that the coach gets the blame if he doesn’t play much. You have to deal with this, it’s my job,” said Xavi Hernández in a monographic press conference, fully focused on Pique’s surprising departure from Barcelona and football. Tarrasa’s coach decided last summer he didn’t have the centre-back as his first option and that’s where a farewell began to take shape that will culminate in a Camp Nou decked out to say goodbye to one of its great idols.
And it is Gerard Pique leaving football, but he does so by doing his last great service to Barcelona. The ‘3’ waives the year and a half remaining on his contract, a decision that will relieve the Barça entity’s coffers with more than 50 million euros that Joan Laporta did not have and which may, who knows, be destined for some is reinforcing luxury in the next winter market or next summer. That money comes at a critical time for the Catalans and could also serve to close the economic hole of more than 40 million euros left by the premature elimination from the Champions League.
The Camp Nou game against Almeria will be the culmination of a few days of tribute to some of the current Barça squad. Xavi assured that he was “one of the best central defenders in the history of football, a legend”, while Laporta thanked the player for his willingness to end his contract as a culé in a friendly manner. “It is part of the Barça shield for the successes and the Barcelona nism it has shown, it will always remain a reference.
The agreement has yet to be finalized, but there is a great willingness from the player to help the club,” said the maximum president Culé, knowing that the withdrawal of the central defender is an oxygen ball for his mandate. Sergio Busquets, captain and footballer with whom he has shared more than a decade as a Barça player, also had words for his partner in statements to Barça TV. «I am sad, we have had many unforgettable moments. He has given much. A piece of the Barça shield and history goes away,” he condemned.
With Barça, Piqué has won eight league titles, seven Copa del Reys, three Champions Leagues, three Club World Cups, six Spanish Super Cups and three European Super Cups. That luxury record and the Barcelona nism that he shows by giving up the more than 50 million euros gross left on his contract will be present at the Camp Nou, where just ten days ago the central defender was called up to the game against Villarreal. That meeting, a week after his failure against Inter Milan, could have been the last straw for a footballer who can say goodbye to Almeria in shorts.
On this occasion, Xavi is recovering Eric García and Christensen from the back after leaving his physical problems behind, but the two still lack rhythm and that opens the door to the experienced centre-back in the absence of injuries from Jules Koundé and Ronald Araujo. “We are counting on him until the last game,” said Xavi, who also misses Sergi Roberto, Franck Kessié and Memphis Depay.
All these absences will determine an elf in which Xavi will not do too many experiments. The Egarense could rotate in the Champions League game against Viktoria Pilsen during the week and will play the game against Almería with all the weapons at his disposal to regain the lead. Bellerín and Jordi Alba could return to the wings, Frenkie de Jong would again play alongside Busquets and Lewandowski would return to the spear point together with Dembélé and Ansu Fati.
The person responsible for spoiling Piqué’s party is an Almeria who has already shown this season that he has the willpower to hurt any team, but is completely destroyed when he plays outside. The team led by Rubi is the sixth best local team, but it is also the worst visitor of the entire category. He’s barely made a point out of the 18 he’s played, a record he hopes to break by making a splash at the Camp Nou and sneaking into the Barca party. He will not be able to count on Iván Martos, Nieto, Centelles and Rojas for this due to an injury.
Source: La Verdad
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