Pique's 10 shots at Madrid and the Madrid press across the last year
No-one doubts that Gerard Pique has the qualities to become the Barcelona president in the future. The Catalan defends the interests of the team on the pitch and the institution off it, especially against attacks from Madrid.
He once again made reference to the media comments which come from the Spanish capital as Barça celebrated their season at Camp Nou on Monday evening. Here are 10 of the things he has done across the last 12 months…
1. As Barcelona celebrated their 2015-16 double (23/05/16), he said: “They always complain that we play against 10 and on Sunday it was us who played with 10. And what happened? We won again.” Pique was referencing the Copa del Rey final against Sevilla.
2. He criticised ABC’s cover (21/05/16), which related to the Esteladas being allowed at the Copa final: “A newspaper should always be in favour of freedom of expression,” he tweeted.
3. Ahead of the Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid (04/04/16) he said: “Atletico are the second team in Spain [after Barcelona].”
4. He defended himself against Pedro J. Ramirez (20/03/16), who suggested he should have been sent off for two yellow cards against Villarreal: “Why don’t you talk about the first booking? Because it doesn’t interest you. Take off your shirt when you’re doing journalism.”
5. Pique retweeted a tweet mocking two covers of ABC (17/12/15). One from 2014 celebrating Real Madrid’s World Club Cup win and another from 2015, mocking the same competition, of which Barça were about to play in the final of.
6. Accused the newspaper ABC of manipulating an image to make it look like Sporting should have had a penalty against Barcelona (23/04/16). “How can you manipulate things in this way? It’s a disgrace,” he wrote.
7. His controversial reaction to Denis Cheryshev playing in the Copa del Rey when suspended (01/12/16). He posted a tweet of laughing and crying emoticons, which received over 100,000 retweets. He then posted: “100k RT without saying a word. Is that a new record on @twitter?” It lead to problems with various Madrid players.
8. The consequences of Halloween (31/10/15). The Barcelona players dressed in costumes after a game at Getafe. Afterwards they were accused of making a mess in the dressing room by the Madrid team. Pique then accused the club’s president, Angel Torres, of manipulating the scenes and filtering them to the press: “We all know that Torres is a Madridsta and wants to be the president of Real Madrid one day, but to leak these images to the press of the dressing room, which is not how we left it, shows a lack of respect.”
9. His relationship with Alvaro Arbeloa (12/12/15). The clashes between the two this season have been big talking points. The biggest was when Pique said he wasn’t friends with the Madrid right-back, he was someone he knew - a ‘cono…cido’, referencing his cone nickname.
10. “Everything started with you”. Without doubt, the Pique phrase which will accompany him throughout his career and his life came in last season’s treble celebration, when the Catalan made reference to Cristiano Ronaldo’s birthday celebrations and the participation of the singer Kevin Roldan. Even the Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has paraphrased Pique since.
