Barcelona held a brief farewell ceremony for Gerard Pique after a 2-0 win over Almeria 2-0 at the Camp Nou on Sunday.
A few days earlier, the 35-year-old defender suddenly announced his retirement in the middle of the 2022/23 season, ending 18 years of professional play.
“I want to stop this journey. There is a lot of love and passion between me and Barca. But now is the time to give the position to someone else,” Pique said.
“I’m sure the future will come back here again. I’ve left and come back. This is not a farewell. I am a member of Barca from birth and will die here. I will always watch the club.” Pique added.
Pique’s speech was slurred. He stopped and started crying at one point. Barcelona fans at the Nou Camp chanted Pique’s name as they said throughout the match.
Pique walked around the pitch after his speech to smiling to the fans. Barca showed a video documenting Pique’s career from his days as a young player at Barcelona to his final days on the big screen.
“Of course I’m getting older and when I see that I am not as important as I have always been, I will go. I won’t be the fastest, but I can compete against the best and not feel inferior. As long like that, I’ll play.” Pique said.
“I will retire at Barca. That is certain. What I will not accept is to retire as a substitute. Let’s see, if it’s the last three months of a season and it’s my turn to sit out, that’s different. But a whole year on the bench? No, I don’t feel like it.” he added.
The Spaniard centre-back is fifth on the list of players with the most appearances for Barcelona, with a total 616 appearances.
Pique is one of the players in Barcelona’s current squad to have played with Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez considered Pique as one of the best players to help him rebuild the squad. However, after the Catatan team spent money to sign top players in the defense, Pique had no place in the squad and often made mistakes every time he played.
Pique has won every trophy in his career, including an English Premier League, a FA Cup, a Champions League for Manchester United; eight La Liga, seven Copa Del Rey, three Champions Leagues, six Spanish Super Cups, three European Super Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup for Barcelona.
