29.10.2010 20:18

Piqué: "I do not count the trophies that I have won"

Laura Aparicio

Gerard Piqué revealed his feelings on a range of subjects from life at FC Barcelona and his time at Manchester United in an interview with Estació Camp Nou for Barça TV.

The central defender looked back over the last few years and ahead to the next few too as he talked about winning trophies and his time at Barça as well as reflecting on his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane at United.

Your rise to the top has been very fast. Is that how you feel?
"Yes, very fast,. At times you try to look back to how things were or what the situation was two or three ago and you realise how quickly everything has changed and the truth is that you do not really have enough time to sit down evaluate it all. It all happens so quickly that one does not realise how quickly you can change. But I am very pleased and really want to carry on at the same pace and move forward."

At 23 have you considered what exactly you have won? You have won eight trophies with Barça and the World Cup.
"The truth is that I have not thought about it like that. I will do that when I retire because then I will have more time to think about it. Now I simply focus on the present and also look to the future. Everything that has happened brings great memories, but you cannot live on memories. We have to continue and so we should."

How do you stay motivated having won almost everything?
"It is not easy, but when you have fought so hard to be here and when there are so many good moments to enjoy you have to live them because that is the best. You also have to want to win again and to feel that happiness that you have when you win trophies."

What would you like to repeat?
"Well, of course, I would repeat the treble, I would repeat the six cups, but that is something that we know all too well is so difficult to obtain once more. It has only been done once in history and we know just how hard it is to do."

When you rejoined Barcelona in 2008 did you think that things could be like the last two years?
"I have always said that anything is possible since I first saw the quality here and I had complete confidence in the squad. But you can never expect to win as much as we have won. Nobody had ever won that many trophies and nobody ever imagined we would do it. But things began very well and we went on a great run that saw us reach March and April still in every competition and that is when you start playing for trophies and it went well. In the Champions League there was the goal of Andrés (Iniesta), the penalty save by (José Manuel) Pinto in Mallorca ... At the crucial moment we had the luck that was needed to win every competition."

Was there a moment after one of those trophy wins where you just exploded?
"Sometimes they will put up photos in your locker and things like that, but these are normal inside any changing room."

Do you follow the sporting press?
"Yes, a lot. I am a person that lives through all this and like to be informed."

You also follow basketball, no?
"I like basketball a lot and other sports too, like handball and hockey. The problem is that we do not have much time to go to any games. My preferred sport though is basketball:"

You also play basketball fantasy coach?
"Last year I won the squad league. This time around I am currently in second place. (Sergio) Busquets is first, but I am well placed to move up."

Which player would like to sign for you fantasy team?
"Juan Carlos Navarro is very expensive and to have him in the team would be great. He is very good, but very expensive. If you sign him you have to then sign lesser players and that makes it difficult."

Now we can look at other people who have influenced you life. If I say a name can you tell me the first thing that comes into your head. Rodolfo Borrell.
"He was the one that taught me to play football. My father was the one who always gave me a ball to take shots with,. Then I came to Barça and it was he who taught me how to play in the way that I do now. There are many things, but to move the ball from the back, to treat the ball well and never to kick it without reason. He taught me all those things."

Bojan Krkic.
"I have known him since he was very young and just beginning. He is a natural-born goalscorer and a great team-mate and one of my closest friends in the squad. He is a pleasure to have around at Barça."

They say you are slightly mad.
"Maybe the culmination was the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. There we won the sixth trophy. We have been able to do it. During that journey we beat Real Madrid 2-6 and that is also something that we will have forever and three days later we went to Stamford Bridge to play in the second leg of the Champions League semi final. One does not have time to take it all in. There are so many emotions and all of them so good in such a short space of time that they become a blur and later you realise what you have done."

You have had so many great moments, but maybe the negative side of your profession is not to have a normal life. When you go out what can happen? Can you go to the cinema on a Sunday, for example?
"Instead of going on Sunday, you have to choose to go on Monday or Tuesday, but yes, you can go. You know the main thing is that people see you and you cannot go about unnoticed, but that is something that happens in life and you become accustomed to it."

What is the strangest thing that has happened and can you tell us?
"I remember going to a shopping centre to buy a video game or a present, I cannot remember, and I was in the queue and I had to leave the shop and go back another day because there were so many people around me. There was nothing else I could do. If one person takes a photo of you then everyone else sees that and realises that you are there. Normally, you can pass virtually unnoticed but when one person realises that is when lots of people begin to accumulate and it is best to go."

Changing slightly, what kind of jokes are done b y the players in the team?
"That is not true. I am on the way, but I am not there yet.

But that is the joke.
"A bit, a bit."

Are you more so with Bojan?
“Yes, because he deserves it. He is very young and needs toughening up.”

Does it bother you that they say you are a joker?
“No. It is true that in my first year I was seen as more of a joker and I enjoyed it, but lately I think there a lot of jokers within the squad. There is Dani (Alves), Xavi ... and many more."

What are you matchday superstitions?
"To go on to the pitch by jumping with my right foot twice, then to do three jumps after the team photo and to play with long sleeves. They are things that you have in your head and you cannot break them because they are customs."

Now we finish. How will yuo celebrate if you score against Real Madrid.
"I do not know, it will just happen. In games against Madrid there is so much intensity and so much adrenaline that you do not think about it. I remember that 2-6 and when I scored, everything that happened like grabbing my shirt, I did not remember. I did not know what I had done and had to watch it again on television."