• Piqué announces that he is retiring

  • Analysis The perfect storm that ends Piqué's career

  • Accusations Gerard Piqué resigns in full legal controversy

  • Opinion Cut with Barça

Of course, Gerard Piqué

's goodbye practically monopolized

Xavi

's press conference

prior to tomorrow's game against

Almería

.

As the central defender assured, he will be the last one who will have the opportunity to play at the

Camp Nou

if the coach, of course, decides to give him minutes.

Something that, despite the fact that the coach played a bit of confusion with the issue,

seems almost assured

, both due to the circumstances and the anniversary.

And although he admitted that his meeting with him last summer, in which he warned him that he was going to be less important, could have had a lot of weight in the footballer's decision, he stressed that his lack of minutes was due solely and exclusively to

reasons sports

.

«He has always been brave, competitive, he

is a winner

, he has no complexes or fears and has an

intellectual capacity above normal

.

He has always been involved, he has been a good teammate and a good member of the team.

There is nothing to blame him for.

He has not been something personal at all, only football, ”said the Barça coach.

«

I have no problem with Gerard

, on the contrary.

He has added and, if he continued, he would continue adding.

He has always given 100%, he will play what he plays.

It is his decision, according to the circumstances and perhaps it also comes as a result of the conversation we had in the summer", stressed a Xavi who spared no praise for the defender, whom he considers "

one of the best central defenders in history

".

"Display Spectacular Greatness"

“He deserves all the praise.

I have been lucky to be his partner and his coach.

Due to a series of circumstances, he has decided to put an end to it.

I understand, because I've been there too.

He still has a contract, but he shows spectacular greatness by taking this step to the side.

He deserves that Barcelona fans honor him as he deserves.

He is a legend of the club

», asserted the coach, who confessed that, when he arrived at the Camp Nou bench, almost a year ago, he did not think about the possibility that he would have to count less and less on players who have had so much weight for the entity like Piqué himself.

"

He has to decide things that are not pleasant

, that are sometimes drastic and one does not like it, but he goes with the position, nothing more," he argued.

"When I communicated my intentions to him, it

was one of the most difficult days of my coaching career

, because he is a teammate and I have great esteem for him", insisted a Xavi who did not deny at all his more than probable influence in the decision of the central.

«Surely,

I have had an important weight

.

Sometimes we make wrong decisions, but I have done what I have considered best for the team and for the entity.

It is not easy, it is unpleasant to make these kinds of decisions

, but I have to look out for the good of the club », he stressed.

"I don't know if I have been fair or not, what I do know is that

I have been honest, sincere and honorable

in the message.

I told him so.

He has been an example for the team, for the captains, for the staff.

He has always trained to the maximum and has never had a bad face.

It is the circumstances that have led him to make the decision at this time.

Many times, we do not choose the end », he abounded.

“I have tried to be honest.

The footballer, when you don't put it on, feels that the culprit is the coach.

You have to deal with that, and sometimes it's unpleasant to make these kinds of decisions with teammates like

Piqué or Alves

, but in the end what he rules is work.

As for what was said in the conversation we had, it's private.

If he wants to tell it, go ahead, but

I won't be the one to do it

», reiterated a Xavi who assured that, on a personal level, nothing has changed between him and the defender.

“The relationship is the same as before,

there is no bad relationship

.

Simply, I have to make decisions for the good of the team and for the good of the club.

When you don't put someone who has been so much for this entity, they don't like it, but it hasn't cooled down.

Not at all », he sentenced.

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  • Xavi Hernandez

  • Gerard Piqué

  • FC Barcelona