Barcelona and Spain Colossus
Gerard Pique reportedly admitted that he derives pleasure in provoking their Spanish rival, Real Madrid in order to maintain the intense rivalry with them.
Barcelona superstars Gerard Pique, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi sent their kids to the club’s football school even from a tender age of three, reports say.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique decided to give striker Neymar rest after his recent Olympic exertions. Neymar was the face of the Brazilian national team that was chasing Olympic gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics. This was the only medal missing from the Brazilian national team cabinet.
It was especially important given the recent poor performances by the national team at major tournaments like the World Cup and Copa America. Even though this was a tournament for the under 23 team, Neymar was picked as part of the three overage players. Barcelona went along with the wishes of the player so as to give him a great opportunity to win Olympic gold.
Read MoreThe former coach of Aston Villa and Norwich Paul Lambert compares Everton’s John stones to Barcelona defender Gerard Pique. Lambert feels both player have a similar way of playing football.
Gerard Pique’s form might not be as it used to be but the Spain international remains a crucial member of the team. He was part of the World Cup winning squad of 2010 and has lifted the UEFA Champions League three times with Barcelona.
Read MoreLa Liga champions Barcelona are set to face surprise English Premier League champions Leicester City. Javier Mascherano has returned to join the squad as the round up their pre season friendly games ahead of the new season.
Barcelona will face Leicester in Stockholm on Wednesday after previous warm up games against Scottish champions Celtic FC. They defeated them 3-1 with Arda Turan and Munir scoring, then an own goal from Efe Ambrose.
Read MoreBarcelona defender Gerard Pique admits that his country’s era might have passed after the team’s poor performance at the Euro 2016 where they were knocked out by Italy in the Round of 16. The player admitted that the team no longer had that certain edge that helped the country with its back to back successes.
He called for a big reflection after the tournament so they could collectively fix the problem. Pique was quoted saying: “We have to be realistic; we don’t have the level that we had a couple of years ago when we were the champions of Europe and champions of the world.
“We have young players coming through who are very promising, veterans who have to keep on bringing experience and talent to the team.”
Read MoreReal Madrid and Spanish defender, Dani Carvajal is in danger of missing the Euro 2016 billed to start in a matter of days in France.
The player picked up an injury during the UEFA champions League final over the weekend. Tests after the game revealed the player is suffering from a leg muscle injury.
Read MoreDespite dropping numerous points in the last few games, defender Gerard Pique remains confident that Barcelona will be able to retain the Spanish league title.
The club has lost four out of the last five games. The latest defeat came at the Camp Nou to Valencia. Despite coming up against a struggling outfit who had just undergone a managerial change, Barcelona were soundly beaten 2-1. The loss has allowed Atletico Madrid moved level on points with the Catalan club. However, the title still remains Barcelona’s to lose since they have a better head-to-head record over Atletico.
Read MoreBayern Munich have been enjoying a tough time of late and this has enabled Borussia Dortmund to close the gap at the top of the table to just five points.
Only a few weeks ago, it looked like the German giants were running away with the Bundesliga once again. They have won the league title Guardiola took charge in 2013. Even though they have been unsuccessful in Europe, this has been a pride for the Spanish manager who is set to leave the club in the summer. He will want to go out with a hat-trick of league titles, but Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel may have other ideas.
Read MoreOne title that Gerard Pique is yet to win in his career is the Club World Cup and he is pretty keen to win it this time around.
Barcelona has qualified for Club World Cup 2016 as the champions of Europe and they will start their tournament tomorrow by directly playing the semi final match against the Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande.
Guangzhou has made the semis by beating Club De Football America.
According to Pique, Club World Cup is a peculiar tournament in the sense that it provides the players the opportunity to play against the sides which they don’t get to play against normally.
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