Is it because of his age (he is 35 and will be retiring soon), or because of his personality, but Gerard Pique rarely minces words on any subject. You ask him about Super League, a single player, a coach or you want to criticize him because of the human rights, he will always give you an answer without hesitation. And speaking with former Manchester United defender Garry Neville, Barca’s center back revealed some interesting stories, but also made some strong statements regarding Saudi Arabia and the Super League. Piqué: “Barcelona supporting the Super League? I don’t think that Barça or Real Madrid explained the project well, since they tried to defend their position. With this opinion I am against the club I play for. I understand their position, but I don’t support it.” pic.twitter.com/62ixPGbBcT— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) May 12, 2022 Neville is a TV pundit who has ‘The Overlap’ show, in which he hosts famous footballers and this week it was Pique, who talked about the Super League, his time in Manchester United, the Super Cup organized in Saudi Arabia, Mourinho’s reign in Real and much more. Even thou the Super League project failed on a global level, there are three clubs still left in it: Real, Juventus and Barcelona, and Pique made it clear he is against it. “It has become a very political thing here in Spain. The press is controlled by different people who support the Super League. It doesn’t look the same as in the UK, where I saw how people were against it. In my opinion, you destroy football because only the big ones benefit. I don’t think that Madrid and Barcelona have played the right way in this. With this opinion I go against my club, but I fully understand the position of Barcelona, Madrid and Juventus. The fan doesn’t think it’s the best way to do things. It’s clear that the management in the Premier League is the best and in Italy it’s a little worse than in Spain. In Spain it’s improved a bit compared to the 90’s” said Pique. Thierry Henry speaks about his old club: “All clubs fear Real Madrid – and Real Madrid fear Barca”Another interesting topic was Jose Mourinho and his time in Real, when the Spaniard was playing in Barcelona under Pep Guardiola and he gave his view of the rivalry between the clubs during that time. “I remember that the first time he came to the Camp Nou with Madrid, after winning the treble with Inter, it was a blow of reality and he lost 5-0. In the press conferences he was pressing every day and maybe for Guardiola it was too much. It had nothing to do with football. At that time he destroyed the way we saw football, even the relationship with the players. Mourinho goes to a player and if he says someone hates you, you believe it. I was going to say hello to Iker Casillas and he didn’t speak to me. We had to do an exercise between the Barcelona and Madrid players to restore relations, return to being a good dressing room and win” revealed the Spaniard. (3.60) GETAFE (3.35) BARCELONA (2.14)Pique spent the early years of his career in Manchester United but returned to Barcelona after 2008. Still, he had memories from Old Trafford, and the one he remembers most is Roy Keane. Then United’s captain blasted Gerard in the locker room for having a mobile phone when he was still only 17, and the Spanish international still remembers that.“Now sometimes I see me and my teammates on a phone after a game, now things have changed a lot. That time, it was vibrating in and the guy could feel it in my head because it was in my pants hanging down in the dressing room. He stood up and said “who the f*** owns this phone?!” I was like “OK, it’s me”. He just snapped at me. It was so scary, a few years later we went with Barcelona to play Celtic and he was doing some kind of TV programme. I was walking after the game and he came over to me to talk, and part of me was like that little kid that arrived in Manchester when I was 17 and thought ‘oh f***, Roy Keane is here!’ I was like ‘come on Gerard, you’re already 24 or 25, come on man’” said Pique. Pique, The Wolf of the Wall Street: Spanish Super Cup relocation to Saudi desert earned him KSh 3 billionThe latest controversy involving the Barca defender happened after the Spanish Super Cup was played in troublesome Saudi Arabia, who is often criticized for the lack of human rights. The Spanish newspaper El Confidencial has also discovered that Pique earned as much as KSh 3 billion for relocating the Super Cup tournament to Saudi Arabia.“The controversy has been a nightmare because here in Spain it is how it is, it is a cultural issue when you talk about so much money. Nobody paid attention to the Super Cup, it was similar to the Community Shield, but the Community Shield was full of people. It is proven which has been a success. I understand the people who don’t want it to be played in Saudi Arabia, but I don’t decide, it’s the Federation. I’ve always said that football and sport open up countries. In 1966, with Franco, they gave us the 1982 World Cup and Franco was a dictator. We have to give these people the opportunity” reminded Pique.
