Xavi: I spoke to Piqué before the season and told him my intention. It was one of the hardest days of my coaching career

Piqué posted a video on his social media on Thursday announcing his end at Barcelona. After much criticism from many quarters, this made everyone shut up and start to reflect back on their behaviour and statements towards the long-time mainstay of the Catalan team. One of them, of course, was coach Xavi, whose early retirement from football was greatly aided by his early retirement.

The long-time Barcelona mainstay acted like a true legend whose heart truly beat only for the Catalan team. “I’ve always said I don’t want to play for another club and that’s the way it’s going to stay,” Piqué says in the video.

“I didn’t want to become a footballer, I wanted to become a Barcelona player,” the 35-year-old defender explains his reason for quitting football. It is now virtually impossible for Piqué to break onto the pitch.

Xavi prefers a foursome of stoppers, namely Ronald Araújo, Eric García, Andreas Christensen and Jules Koundé. Piqué only got on the pitch because of their injuries. When you add to that the intense pressure from the fans and the management, who were bothered by the high wages that did not allow the club to invest much needed money at the moment, his move is logical.

“We want to get three points, it’s important to put pressure on Real Madrid. But the game will be fully dedicated to Gerrard. He deserves the utmost respect from the Barcelona fans. I was very lucky to be his teammate and also his coach,” Marca published Xavi’s pre-match interview.

Xavi was with Pique on the pitch when Barcelona and also Spain were winning big trophies. So to tell him to his face before the season that he is not counting on him too much is of course not easy.

“I spoke to Piqué before the season and told him my intention. It was one of the hardest days of my coaching career,” the Spanish coach continued.

“He always set an example for the team, he trained 100%. He was my partner and I really like him a lot, but I had to make a decision in the interest of the club,” Xavi explained his decision to prioritise other stoppers over Piqué.

Piqué thus concludes a career in which he has looked beyond Barcelona, his hometown, to Manchester United and Real Zaragoza. He has been with the A-team at Camp Nou since the summer of 2008, when he transferred from Manchester United for €5 million.

Since then, he has collected so many trophies that he probably can’t even remember them all himself. However, the Champions League wins, of which there were 4 in total (1 with Manchester United), 8 La Liga championships and the World and European Championship titles were moments that this generation will not forget.

UD Almería will then be his last game, in which he will say goodbye to the fans at the Camp Nou for good as a player. But he is clear about his future, he wants to return to the club one day.

His very last game, however, will most likely be Tuesday’s game against Osasuna.

Source: Twitter, Marca