Gerard Piqué has moved away from the media spotlight since his retirement from professional football. After hanging up his boots, the former FC Barcelona player focused on his business activities: he founded Kosmos, the organizing company of the Davis Cup, and created the ‘Kings League’, a football format unlike any other hardly a traditional game.
However, Pique recently re-emerged in the media to reflect on the 125-year history of FC Barcelona, the club where he spent most of his professional career and which propelled him to football’s pinnacle. While the current entrepreneur spoke about the club’s sporting situation, he also looked at political issues.
The date of October 1, 2017 marked a turning point in the Spanish political landscape. On that day, the illegal referendum on Catalonia’s independence took place, coinciding with the match between Barcelona and Las Palmas at the Camp Nou, a match that Piqué describes as the worst experience of his career.
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Lopetegui and Sergio Ramos forced Gerard Piqué to ‘apologize’ for his stance on October 1
FC Barcelona decided to play the match behind closed doors due to the risk of a boycott by supporters present at the stadium, a decision taken just thirty minutes before kick-off. “It was a very difficult day. In the end the match was played, which I think shouldn’t have happened, but it’s a personal opinion and the club decided to continue,” Piqué explained at TV3.
“After the match, they put the microphone in front of me in the mixed zone. I was emotional, and the next day I left for Madrid for the Spanish national team training camp,” admitted the player, reflecting on an increasingly difficult situation. When Piqué joined national team training, Lopetegui (the coach at the time) and Sergio Ramos (the team captain) demanded he apologize.
“Surprisingly, the coach and the captain came to me and told me I had to apologize,” Pique confessed, responding incredulously that he had simply expressed support for the “right to decide.”
