I hammered hold the type

I will retire in Barca. What I will not accept is to retire as a substitute. That phrase, spoken by Gerard Piqué on October 24 of last year in an interview granted to The country, resounds in every game now that he has turned 35 and begins to fight against time. He, a lifelong hedonist, at least on the pitch, now suffers on the field. But he is holding his own and, of course, and within the ego that surrounds any footballer, his commitment cannot be discussed.

since you arrived Xavi, Piqué has already played 1,013 minutes out of a total of 1,140, ​​89%. A figure that, surely, can be projected to his performance on the pitch. It is possible that, at 35 years old, he already lacks that 10% that allowed him in his day to hit excursions to the rival area, exuberant, with enough legs to reach the area to score 2-6 in the Bernabeu or seven years later, doing exactly the same with 0-4 in that anecdotal play in which Munir stole the honey from his lips. You had to see him go down to defend that day, swearing in Aramaic, but with a feeling of absolute superiority over the rest.

14 years at Barca

The years go by and Piqué turns 14 at Barça, an outrage if you put it in perspective. He is indisputable. With Umtiti ostracized for multiple reasons; lenglet without having taken the step that was expected when he had arrived from the Seville; Y Eric still learning the trade, the one from Bonanova has made friends in the center of the rear with Araujowhom for a moment he could see as an ‘enemy’ in that fear that obsesses him of losing ownership.

Piqué’s movements must be closely followed between now and the end of the season. For a winner like him, Barcelona’s process of decline in recent years has been hard. Last year he stopped the fall with a title, the Cup. And it is possible that Piqué will not bear being a substitute at Barça. But it hits him even less to leave soccer with a losing team for more titles than he has won. At the moment, the center back is not left but he is still in the fight. Approximately, as the minutes that he has played with Xavi89% battery.